ZachPSU

Good question, not a clear answer but a screenshot of my MRI shows why. Its an incomplete fusion (actually error in segmentation process in utero— also called block or wedge vertebrae). Spondys are often asymptomatic but yeah a 50% or greater slippage can cause some problems. Also mistype earlier, its a L3/L4 block. See enough L5 herniations in a rotation and you start doubting where your own problems are, lol. This was totally unknown for me until I was 25 and took a bad bump in BJJ practice one day and couldn’t feel my legs for about an hour. The MRI is from about 2 weeks after that, some small residual protrusions above and below the L3/L4 segment. Long story short, Im more likely to fracture at the thin point and get it cemented together but hopefully never to that point.

Laid out really nicely, I like the format good luck keeping up with the tracking! Curious to see what the traps will be.

Happy to hear that you are pleased with the upper body reps you are adding in and getting some definition. Remember, even though you don’t have any “heavy weights”, your body can be leveraged into many different positions to become very very heavy! Hope to hear more progress sometime.

Long days, the past two. Missed my flossing yesterday! (Maybe missed isn't the right word exactly ). Just been really tired and run down. In the final legs of a long quarantine with toddler and infant with help coming for the toddler starting Monday. Also a pesky tendonitis returning on my left triceps tendon. Ive been dealing with it on and off over the years, it probably flared up with the skullcrushers I was doing before just switching to GSLP this week. Taking it easy on that during these workouts where the weight is catching up to where it should be. Did manage to get my entire garden hooked up with a soaker hose to reduce time needed outside for watering, and the plants all doing well except the carrots. I believe those are a lost cause this year. Beets will need thinned soon already and thy are in the same bed as the carrots, so thinking it was the seeds there. For anyone curious, wife and I are up to the Guardians of the Galaxy in our MCU watch-a-thon based off of this list https://www.amctheatres.com/amc-scene/the-best-way-to-rewatch-the-mcu

I'm doing this roughly too, I didn't set myself a numerical goal, more just trying to not binge out. Feels like I've done well so far, but the cravings are real. Bought a bunch of flavored almonds that have 1 or less grams of sugar per 24-almond serving. Helps to have them on hand instead.

Yesterday was good. Daughter had 2 month vaccination appointment and she did not take it well at all! My son was not bothered at all by the pricks so I was hoping she'd be chill as well, but no dice. Would not settle all afternoon finally conked out laying on me and I dared not move as to not push on the bruises on her thighs. Family got to eat their warm dinner while I sat on the couch with a babytumor attached to me - trying to attach a picture, first time so no idea if it will attach right in the spoiler box. Edit: the picture loads huge, if anyone knows how to scale that down please let me know lol. Earlier in the day knocked out the yoga goal for the week (sorta). If you count the video below, which I did with my son after a quick search for 'kids yoga' and this being a top video. It was a little entertaining and actually kept his focus for MOST of the 30 minutes. Later in the day he asked to do yoga again so I think he liked it and hopefully this can help with his general being-a-toddler-not-knowing-how-to-deal-with-stuff-ness while he gets through this stage. Trying to get the whole clan out to a park nearby today for a longer walk and maybe a picnic, will see how that shakes out!

Oh man, the DQ I pass near my house had NOBODY in line. I was like, I could swing in there, get a large blizzard, and get out and nobody would know! Was very tempting. Good for you for the self control to go for the small. I always get the large and tel myself I’ll eat it over two nights. Has yet to last two nights.

Sounds like a great way to spend the anniversary. My wife and I are currently using the DIsney+ freebie we have to watch all of the MCU movies. I've seen about half of them, my wife none, and we found some list of the 'best order' to watch them in (though there seems to be varying opinions on what is the best way). We are up to the first Avengers movie right now, think we got 6 down and like 3242839 to go. Edit: Is it a thing that Marvel movies HAVE to be 2 hours long?

Keep up the good work, quarantine's been good to your body recomp!

Very cool, I am a career changer too but I don't consider it late in life yet The last personal trainer I worked out with at a buddys gym was a really cool guy, worked IT 20+ years, was obese, out of shape, made a personal change and became an amateur bodybuilder and got into personal training full time. Never too late! I'm interested in the orthopedic exercise, given 2 of my last rotations were in outpatient ortho clinics (I don't think I want to work outpatient ortho in the model it exists in here in the US with multiple patients per hour, but the creativity you can have with ortho-related exercises was pretty fun). I changed a strength goal today, I switched my programming to Greyskull LP. I've done GSLP before with success but got back into a basic broscienced PPL homebrew that I was honestly just tapping out. Doing a program I'm familiar with will help me not have to spend any energy at all thinking about what my lifts for the day will be and I can then focus directly on boards studying beginning Monday. Did the first lift for GSLP today, putting my upper body lifts close-ish to what I know them to be, with my lower body lifts more of a baseline 0 just for safety to ease back into the compound back squats/deadlifts. I have a congenital fusion of L4/L5, so I have a lot of extension overflow demand placed on L5/S1 and L3/L4, making deadlifts and squats very slow for me at times. I've learned slow and steady wins that race. Finally, I'd like to add that I think I am a hostile flosser. Those little floss picks last about five/six teeth for me before the string breaks. Maybe I'm just too aggressive, or maybe the pack is 5 years old and the string is weak, but I am switching back to traditional wrap-around-fingers-turning-them-purple floss for the time being.

Pretty much! I saw you say you are a fitness related professional in the juice bar, what do you do if I may ask? Todays been good but toddler really pushed my patience this morning. I was grilling lunch after we went on a good 2ish mile walk (he was in the stroller about half of it) and he was getting into EVERYTHING while I was trying to grill. Digging in my raised veggie beds, throwing water at my tenants car, playing by the english ivy my neighbor planted and has taken over my back corner of my fence. Burned the burgers while I was trying to do a deep breathing break with him on my rickety ass grill. The heat shields are all jacked up so I get flareups pretty often. He responded well to the deep breathing break at least. Better than the burgers and dogs anyway.

Allllmost didnt floss last night. Thougt about doing it when I was giving toddler a bath in between convincing him to get his hair wet. His quarantine hair is a disaster of a mop. We cut it once and did a terrible job. I’ve been shaving my head with a razor for about 10 years so i dont use my clippers and we just wrecked it. So now its kind of wrecked and kind of longer. Like someone fertilized charlie browns christmas tree and it grew in all jacked up and uneven. About the sugar.. my wife dished up the blueberry dessert she made which is fine I was gonna allow that but also put some big ice cream scoops on top of it. Not like I could just put it back in the container, so I ate that last night. I regret nothing but I wont let it get me on the sugar craving train for another round tonight. Today should be good, nice weather so try to get toddler outside today.

My house turned 110 years old today. Every routine project ends up with finding something concreted where its not supposed to be, I empathize. Tenants downstairs needed their toilet replaced, I cleared a whole weekend. You are awesome at keeping track of your points, very cool and in depth system!

Hello Rebels, It is funny that I arrive here, because I started typing this post to talk about how in real life I am the counterpoint to a rebel -- always doing the expected, falling in line, not rocking the boat; but then I realized I actually am a rebel. I am in my early 30’s, and on my third career and living in my 14th new city of my life. I have a loving wife and two kids (3 years boy, 7 weeks girl). The toddler is some days amazing, some days a hellspawn. I’m told that comes with the whole being 3 thing and it’s not something I’m inherently fucking up. The girl is super sweet and so far a miracle baby that puts herself to sleep and is sleeping through the night with just one feed around 3AM. Fitness has always been important to me, I am a former wrestler and did some amateur MMA about 10 years ago now. I’ve let most competitive things go at this point and I just workout for my sanity, but this challenge will be for a different cause. I’ve also been following along some of your challenges last round all sneakily like, and I like you guys and look forward to us all helping each other do and be better on the days we’re just out of fucks. I just finished a doctorate in Physical Therapy, and while I was fortunate to have just enough clinical hours secured before COVID shut down most of our clinical sites to student access -- my boards exam has been pushed from April to May, and now May to July. I finally have a date that I am told is 100% foolproof, and that is what my challenge this go-around will be centered on. July 29th is my Normandy and while I won’t be landing a beachcraft into a hail of bullets, I will be riding solo into a 6 hour exam with the past three years of putting my family through a ridiculous schedule and an additional 6 figures of student loan debt (on top of the masters and bachelors degrees I’m technically ‘not using’ anymore). So, I’d almost rather the gunfire at this point -- death would come quicker if I meet failure. I have my challenge post up, but didn’t want to clog it up with my intro to the rebel crew!

I am trying the daily floss too (just accidentally typod that to “faily floss- I hope thats not a predictor for either of us!).

Yeah, as mine have gotten older (6 weeks and 3.5 years) Ive learned at each stage Im like “it will be so much easier when they’re older and.....” but it ends up just being a different challenge. Last night had a piece of a blueberry dessert the wife made, it was delicious, but definitely had sugar in it. Dont know how much, but it was still less than the amount of ice cream I might eat in a “serving” and the day was pretty sugar-free otherwise. Flossed last night too and my gums feel all kinds of weird today. Probably a good thing, so hopefully they just feel normal by the time week 1 starts and I get this part over with in week 0 workout went well this morning, wasn't bench day as per my strength goal, I will be going for 210 for 3x5 on Wednesday. I did let my phone distract me a good but during the lifts this morning and the workout took me closer to an hour and a half instead of the hour it should take. That was something I was working on last challenge and could probably do better with

Here for the Parks and Rec gifs.

Following along because chaos pulls me!

Tell me about it. Returned to school in my mid 20s for a Masters, and again in my 30s now this doctorate. Considering just becoming a fulltime student in life and riding student loans for the rest of my life!

Hello Rebels, This challenge is mostly focused on me passing my boards on July 29th, with a day-by-day study plan I have built (and will share). The plan begins June 22nd, because that is the day I’ve secured childcare for the toddler so I will actually have dedicated time to study. Until then it’s just keeping me and my wifes heads above water, and a roof over our heads. I want to dedicate a goal to different areas still though, as to not lose sight of me as a person for just one pursuit. AKA don’t eat like shit, shut out my family, be lazy and stop working out, and blame it all on having to study. My style will probably be daily brief check-ins with a weekly full review of all goals. Here goes! STRENGTH: I will continue with my lifting sessions 3x/week. I will bench 215 for three sets of 5 reps. Progress through Greyskull LP without getting distracted by other programs and needless tinkering with workout plan when I should be studying for boards. DEXTERITY: I will complete one yoga session per week. I will complete maintenance (foam rolling, ball smashing) for bilateral hamstrings, and left shoulder/left knee twice per week. CONSTITUTION: I will floss nightly. (This could go under charisma, but my regular 6 month dental hygiene visit was cancelled due to Big ‘Rona, so I don’t want to be uber-shamed when the next one rolls around) I will make conscious decisions to avoid sugary food. (Vague, but I don’t want to binge ice cream nightly and tell myself I’m bulking.) INTELLIGENCE: I WILL ROCK THE SHIT OUT OF BOARDS. Take the practice tests on my schedule to identify areas of remediation or improvement. WISDOM: I will build awareness of when I am feeling stress and pause those moments to decompress before acting or speaking. (In general, I want to feel less likely to lose my shit when my toddler wants to practice scissors on legal documents, or when the dog stops walking directly in front of me in a planned assassination attempt). CHARISMA: I will reach out to a friend I haven’t heard from lately once per week to see how they are doing (I can rotate this among friends). Okay, enough typing, off to study! Looking forward to cheering all the rest of you on as well.

So, congrats are in order? 🥳 Just read through, nice job! I might creep over into the Assassins corner next challenge and see if I see you there.

Someone had set up a challenge for each traditional “character stat”, I plan to do that with my heaviest focus on intelligence — I take my national boards on July 29th after ramping up studying twice for April and again May, both dates being pushed back thanks to the big Rona. The other goals will be less important, maintenance for strength, maybe a small dietary goal for constitution, try to reduce some left sided crepitus in my knee and shoulder for dexterity, and Im not sure on wisdom and charisma yet but they will come to me. What about you? Heading to a guild? I believe I will quest with the Rebels next round.

Today was a good day, outside almost all day with my 3 year old teaching him how to wash the van (aka me getting soaked and lifting him up so he can spray the roof and my head and his own face with the hose). A walk with the whole fam, and a ton of housework. Checking things off as heavily as I can on the household front for the next week before I dive in to the grind of boards studyprep for the final month. I decided to stop using Twitter today, it is usually an impulsive scroll when I pick up my phone and it is just sad and depressing 75% of the time. I also decided if i am good about not using twitter, and I pass my boards, I might pick up a year subscription to the local paper for a different approach to getting my headlines.

My dads been at it for years, has a massive spreadsheet of what he changes with each batch, etc. my advice if you go down that path is to be ready to dump your first batch into your compost, it will probably suck and don't take it personally. Oh man, the pretty swirling lights, and little dopamine hits with each skill up and level up are so addicting. Unfortunately, a paper doll character on my screen getting better at mining, carpentry, or swordplay, all means I am getting worse at endurance and posture lol

Well said, I was thinking this was what he needed to hear but couldn't get it out as eloquently. Spot reduction has been shown over and over to be a myth. If you want to shed that fat deposit, you will probably need to accept losing some size as you maintain training and reduce calories to hit that deficit.