navis

Yay! Good job on the meet, and on that pizza!

Saturday 18th March 2017 ** Comp Bench Press ** - 70.0 lbs x 5 reps - 70.0 lbs x 5 reps ** Seated Cable Row ** - 100.0 lbs x 8 reps - 100.0 lbs x 8 reps - 100.0 lbs x 8 reps ** Lat Pulldown ** - 90.0 lbs x 8 reps [PR] - 90.0 lbs x 8 reps - 90.0 lbs x 6 reps Comments Today was a pretty easy workout. I had to wait ages for the lat pulldown, and ended up working in with someone so I didn't take as much rest as I normally would, hence the incomplete 3rd set.

Love that gif! Seems everyone is doing a cut!

WEEK 0 / DAY 5 (3/16) 1. Meet prep: Rest day! No progress. I built a pillow fort in my bed last night to prevent me from sleeping on my back. It felt odd but my back feels much better today, though still not 100%. I may look at body pillows since using smaller ones is too much faff. [1/3] Film each lift once per week [0/2] Cardio [1/2] Do Your Damn Abs [0/0] Becoming a Supple Leopard (marking this out of zero since I have no plan to start until Sunday) [0] Meals off (cut) plan 2. Keep my sanity: NTR. [3/5] Write in journal [0/1] Clean one part of apartment [0/1] Get out of the house/be social [3/5 ] Read and/or language practice 3. Don't shut down [3/5] Daily updates [0/1] Weekly recap [0/1] Challenge recap [3/5] Participate on other people's threads Going to try and keep a battle log so updates here aren't too busy:

Friday 17th March 2017 Lifting ** HB Squat ** - 180.0 lbs x 2 reps - 140.0 lbs x 8 reps [PR] - 140.0 lbs x 8 reps - 115.0 lbs x 12 reps - 115.0 lbs x 12 reps ** Comp Bench Press ** - 83.5 lbs x 2 reps - 65.0 lbs x 8 reps - 65.0 lbs x 8 reps - 50.0 lbs x 15 reps ** Sumo Deadlift ** - 220.0 lbs x 2 reps [PR] - 195.0 lbs x 6 reps - 170.0 lbs x 10 reps [PR] Do Your Damn Abs Tall Kneeling Pallof Press: 3x8 Superset Foream/Side (L+R) Planks: 2x60 each, 1x60/40/40 Hanging Knee Raises: 2x8, 1x7 My red face during deadlifts:

Training log makes challenge threads to long, so will be posting here. We'll see how consistent I am at that 1RMs are (as of 3/6/17): Squat (high bar): 190lbs Bench (pause): 85lbs Deadlift (sumo): 235lbs

Yes, but if I call it a practice week and do some on the weekend, then I get bonus points and a higher weekly average. This is clearly what matters most! (Please ignore me, I rationalize data for a living.) Congrats on the PR

Nice! I mostly practice savasana in front of a movie.

WEEK 0 / DAY 4 (3/15) 1. Meet prep [1/3] Film each lift once per week [0/2] Cardio [1/2] Do Your Damn Abs [0/0] Becoming a Supple Leopard (marking this out of zero since I have no plan to start until Sunday) [0] Meals off (cut) plan Training yesterday went well. My upper back (rhomboid) is still tender, but it doesn't bother me. I ordered an old school ice pack so I don't have to use a towel anymore. It reminds me of when I was a kid and wanted to use my mom's pretty ice packs. I'd run into walls trying to get a bump on my forehead so she'd make me one. This partially explains the kind of "adult" I turned into. I have no idea how I slept but I woke up with a sore back and everything keeps cracking. I don't know if it's cold, old age, or both. Anyway, I'm moving today's session to tomorrow. I don't like rest days because I only get 25g of carbs, and not until bedtime 2. Keep my sanity [2/5] Write in journal [0/1] Clean one part of apartment [0/1] Get out of the house/be social [2/5 ] Read and/or language practice Marking some of these out of 5 since I started the week late. I may need to split reading and practicing languages into two goals, I have a feeling languages will never get done otherwise. 3. Don't shut down [2/5] Daily updates [0/1] Weekly recap [0/1] Challenge recap Follow and participate on other people’s threads -- not sure how I'm going to measure this, maybe 1 pt whenever I post on someone else's thread?

Oh I didn't realize you could turn them off for likes only, I'll do that! I also find that going through "Manage Followed Content" instead of the notifications themselves makes it a bit more, well, manageable! Thanks! Good self-awareness/self-analysis is actually something I've been told I have before... by my therapists I can definitely see that, and there was definitely value in some of the treatment I received. I never picked my doctors though, that likely had a lot to do with it!

I have the same plan. I failed to succeed on day one (!= actual failure), so I'm pretending I'm not starting the challenge yet. That crockpot chicken looks yummy

Haha yes, but if you don't like/post on my thread then I'll feel left out. You're doomed no matter what!

Not actually starting the challenge until Sunday (which I'm kicking off with brunch, oops), but will start with the updates now. WEEK 0 / DAY 3 (3/14) 1. Meet prep Training/cardio/abs/mobility: N/A, rest day (I'll do mobility on rest days once the challenge officially kicks off, or I'm feeling less lazy). It was meant to be a training day, but I strained my upper back (again) benching on Monday so reschedules my training. Cutting: Pie day! I did not have pie. All meals on plan. 2. Keep my sanity Write in journal: yep Clean one part of apartment every weekend: not yet Get out: Snow day! My office was closed and I had food at home, no way I was going out in the cold I was meant to meet a couple of friends for drinks, but plans fell through which was a relief as one of them turns out to be a trigger for some of the negative feelings I've been having. I opened up about it to our mutual friend and meeting him alone later this week. Big step for me! Read and/or language practice: read my book 3. Don't shut down Post updates: this is an update! Follow and participate on other people’s threads: I get anxiety when there are too many notifications... Anyone else get this?

Hello! Almost quoted myself because I didn't recognize my own gif

Thank you both for the tips -- I'll give it a go!

So I hear! I'm still figuring out how to keep mine tight. I use the same trick -- except the clock wakes me up because I prefer it to my phone's ringtone It definitely helps.

Solid.

Damn. That forever cut is taking forever!

I am mesmerized by the lat engagement 0_o

Following! Also, this gif hurts my OCDness:

As long as there's food porn...

New challenge up!

So. Moment of truth incoming. I have a history of depression and have been struggling for the last couple of months. There have been a series of lows in my personal life, each of them minor on their own, but which have accumulated and are taking a toll on my emotional stability. On top of that, work hasn’t exactly been fulfilling and being far away from my family and the friends who have seen me through my darkest days intensifies my current feeling of emptiness. I have had extremely bad experiences with therapists (read: Hollywood drama bad) and so am very reluctant to consult again, though if I can’t keep by head above water i'll certainly consider it. Things I know are important to get through this are: Taking care of myself. Shower and get dressed on the weekends, keep my apartment tidy and my fridge full. Don’t let everything go, because once I do I let it overwhelm me. Being honest about how I feel: I tend to keep things bottled up until I flake or explode. My mom, aunt and cousin are coming to NYC for 10 days, which is great because I’ll have a reason to go out, I’ll have family with me and it’ll take my mind off everything that’s been going on. The only potential hiccough is it being too much for me. I may need a break, not ask for it and end up picking a fight with my mom. If I need to spend a night in while my family is here, it’s ok. Yes, they are only here 10 days, but missing out on one night is better than ruining it. Doing what I love. I am just under 7 weeks out of my meet and as dedicated as ever to my training, despite waking up at 5.30am and walking to the gym and back in freezing cold weather. With that in mind, here goes the actual challenge: 1. Meet prep Training: film at least one set of each lift per week for self-review, send to trainer for feedback as needed Cardio: any kind, twice a week minimum Doing my damn abs: twice a week minimum Mobility: daily – for this I’ll either do Becoming a Supple Leopard’s 14-day routine twice or do the beginner and intermediate programs back-to-back. TBD before official challenge kick-off. Cutting: I still have three weeks left on RP. It’s going to be harder to stay on plan while my family is here, however since I don’t need to lose weight to compete and feel ok with how I look, I’m not going to make it a priority. Right now I’m thinking keep doing RP, and when we eat out just don’t use it as an excuse to eat like an asshole. Maybe I’ll log my non-RP meals here. TBD as well. 2. Keep my sanity Write in journal every day, make particular note of anything positive that's happened Clean one part of apartment every weekend Get out, take a walk or meet with people at least once a week Read and/or practice both Spanish and German every day (this can be Duolinguo, making/practicing with flashcards, reading/writing, watching a movie, etc.) 3. Don't shut down Post regular updates (daily, if possible), weekly recap and challenge summary Follow and participate on other people’s threads