Magicman

I'm also not a doctor, but I've got some experience with recovering from various injuries. Estrix gave some great advice; have patience. What has helped me was stretching around the injury. If it's lower back, stretch your hamstrings, glutes, and mid-upper back as well to relieve some of the pulling on the affected area. I never did this until I had to go to physical therapy, so I would guess you're doing this in your own therapy. These were the stretches that helped me the most, even though at the time I didn't "feel" them doing anything. Good luck, hang in there, and trust the process. It will get better!

Ugh this arm hold thing was awful in the last 2 minutes. Awful! I used TV to distract me and that helped.

I'd buy that theory, Jarric. If I'm being honest, it's probably like that more often than I realize, I just happened to pay attention this time.

So I missed a couple of days by accident but I am back at it. For the tree pose, I thought I'd do my non-dominant leg first to make life easier and ended up finding that my balance on my dominant side was much worse! I got it done with EC but if I had to go another 10 seconds I'd have failed on the right side. Reverse push ups were weird, had to play around with hand placement until I could get my chest to the ground and then get started, so I probably did 5 freebies on my way to my actual set. It's great seeing everyone's numbers and experiences with this, it's very motivating!

Thank you!

Those diver push ups hurt at the end, but I got them done with EC. Home stretch everyone! I'm hoping this simple knee hug isn't the thing that wrecks my shot at Titanium.

This is essentially 1/2 of a Turkish get up. In the true get up you'd be holding a weight on the raised arm and would go from flat on your back to a standing position, and you could reverse the movements back to lying on your back. As I wrote this, I remember that we'd do them all on one side and then switch, making me wonder if that's what I should do tonight when I do these.

I am planning to alternate, since it wasn't specified. I think it helps me keep form throughout if I don't completely tax one side before moving on to the other.

Today's whatever-that-was is done with EC. Not fun on the shoulders after yesterday's!

Push ups done with EC. This was the first one that I looked at and seriously doubted myself, but I decided to try 5 and see how it felt and ended up just doing the 30. Good luck with yours, everyone!

Got the bridges done last night. My daughter walked by, watched me do a couple, then said "Daddy I'm gonna sit on your tummy ok?" She is like an extra credit gremlin, but luckily she listened when I begged her not to and I got it done in one shot. Jumping jacks tonight, can't wait!

Done with EC. My 3 year old daughter started asking a million questions after my second one, so getting 18 more while trying to deflect/answer them all was a blast!

Oh my god the squats. All the squats. Done with EC, but almost not. I was ready to stop and saw I had 15 seconds left, and I decided I didn't want to have to do it again later so I pushed through.

Done with EC on everything so far this week. The clenching thing was intense! Minute one I thought "this isn't bad," and minute two I thought "minute one was lying!" Flutter kicks have have been in my wheelhouse since my martial arts days, so I actually enjoyed today's!

Done with the EC.

Day 2 done with extra credit. So far so good!

If there's an error in the dare (i.e. today's main line says 15, body text says 20) which do we take as the true dare? I did 20 just in case, so if someone needs 5 reps, I got your back!

I'm in. I'll shoot for Titanium, because why the hell not?

Some updates: Weekend tracking has been a breeze. I'm glad I made the change finally. Basement is done and ready for the carpet ahead of schedule. It was cool having this challenge in the back of my mind to motivate me to go down there and get it done when I wanted to sit on the couch and slam my face into a bowl of popcorn. I'm actually going beyond what was planned since it's so clean right now and painting areas that needed touching up but weren't high on my list of to-do's. Sorted out a ton of my clothes and I've got things ready to donate. Had to throw out a bunch of workout shirts because years of crossfit has essentially wrecked them, but I had way too many anyway. For my work and gig clothes, I've essentially cut my closet down by 2/3! It looks really peaceful now and not like I'm trying to have The Kingpin's closet from Daredevil season 1 stuffed into my tiny armoire. I sent all 5 feelers out to different venues. In the meantime, I booked several other gigs while asking around if people had contacts at any of these venues, so that's a win regardless of whether or not these places contact me back. So, I guess that means Challenge Complete! I'm so glad I did this challenge, and joined this site. I can't wait to jump into my next one! Thanks for the kinds words, everyone. Pj

Thank you! It does little to reduce the anxiety of getting rid of about 2/3 of my clothes, so I am planning to fill the donation bags but keep them around for a couple of weeks just in case. Then I'll rip the band aid off.

I am a part time professional magician. I have a career job and I do magic/stand up on the side. Have you tried contact juggling? I find that hypnotic to watch but I haven't taken the time to learn yet.

Got up early this morning and put pen to paper to create an Essential Wardrobe List. I will be filling several large bags of donations this week!

Finishing out week 2, here's where I stand: 1) Tracked all weekend. I have been cheating on weekends without tracking, so I was likely 500+ calories above what I should have even on a cheat day. So I cheated but still stayed in a deficit due to tracking, and I felt great! Weekend 2, here I come. 2) Painting is not done, but I've been busy getting other things done down there. I'll have the painting done either Sunday or next weekend, though. 3) I have made my list of essential items but haven't pulled the trigger on sorting my wardrobe yet. I think I need to break it down further into work clothes/casual clothes/workout clothes, etc and tackle one at a time. Actually, yeah, I'll do this. 4) I've reached out to 2/5 venues so far. Both are ignoring me, which is fine because it helps me learn to better deal with rejection. It's a start, but I'd like to lock this down and start working toward that big show sooner rather than later. Onward...

The struggle is real...ly embarrassing.

Brief and early update: I hit a bodyweight milestone today of finally having less than 20#'s to hit my goal weight. I haven't been within 20 since May 2011 after my first paleo challenge, and the difference this time is I feel like I'm just getting started, not burned out! I also made my first contact for a venue. 1/5, unless this one fits my needs and availability in which case I'll consider it a special item unlock and consider this portion of the challenge complete.