BruteSquad

So...massive fail. Is a -ZZ lower than a -Z. I have actually put on a good amount of fat weight in the last 6 months. Not back to where I started and I have also built some serious muscle, but not thrilled with where I am. However, Degree work finished. 4.0 gpa. (Got my nerd on) This was the first week without homework! Yet I still have most days full. I have to focus on selling the house now. Then on to develop my small business in 2015. Looking at a lot of avenues for growth and revenue. I am still having issues getting enough restful sleep, but I am still working on it. I, like so many, am really trying to find those habits that will actually make a difference in my life. Often during a challenge, I find that the habit I list to attempt to develop or maintain doesn't do what I thought it would. They have unintended consequences. So I am still searching.

YAY! that is all.

That is a cool medal.....cooler that you were involved. Rock on!

You had to give it to him: he had a plan. And it started to make sense, in a Tyler sort of way. No fear. No distractions. The ability to let that which does not matter truly slide. Tyler Durden....you need to Tyler Durden it.

Thank you for the faith..... "You had to give it to him: he had a plan. And it started to make sense, in a Tyler sort of way. No fear. No distractions. The ability to let that which does not matter truly slide." Yes I am trying to Tyler Durden it at this point. Papers turned in, graduation application turned in, and all fees and senior dues paid. I have to submit one more set of homework, do a 20 minute presentation, and I am done with the BS.....BS degree. Audition schedule almost full. Going to start the work on the house I want to sell this weekend. The serious work. This week sleep fail. Been getting up at 5:30-5:45 am and not getting to bed until 11pm well, sometimes as early as 10:30pm.... Still attempting the no wheat...doing better, but not even 90%. Lack of food prep is the real issue. Going to get it straight over the weekend. Having the GF in the house is great, but eats up time I had when I was living alone....not the big hang out time, but little things you never think of like waiting on the shower or the multitude of little conversations we have that I love, but they take away time I had. So I have to adjust and adapt! I know if you are reading this you are rocking on......as you should.

Due to work, the papers are not submitted, but I will submit them tomorrow. Pretty much the rest is a wash. I have done some heavy work that I can count for workouts, but not enough. Wheat has been at about 70%. But I keep finding myself eating something with at tortilla or a sandwich before I realize I am not meeting my goal. This is harder than I had imagined. Because even when I am eating "healthy" I don't focus on the details of each meal as I have so much going on. Sleep. Most nights I am getting at least 7.5. But I think that I, being over extended, am just not get enough "rest" even if I get enough sleep. I keep finding myself with more to do when I should be going to bed. But this comes from a good place. Here is the deal. I am finishing up my degree. October 28th is my presentation for my thesis. This should be the end of my degree. Honestly I do not have a ton of work left, mostly just getting the presentation together. But I am working on that. I am making a push to get my business going seriously in 2015. As such I have scheduled a video shoot in January to create videos I need....but that means that, due to my work schedule, I have to set up auditions for November 8. Which also means that I have to create a test script (done) and post the audition and schedule them (in progress, decent response), secure a conference room at a hotel for auditions (done), get legal papers set up for both audition and the actual shoot (in progress), as well as inventory equipment for auditions since I am between houses I need to get all my gear in one place and ensure that it is operating properly so that I can do a full day of auditions with it. I have writing dead lines in January, however, I will have most of December to work on that. All of that on top of the school work, and my job which has required overtime lately. So sleep alone may not be enough. I took Sunday and just did laundry. That was about it. I watched a few movies, partially to relax, but also to look at how they were shot. Well, I will see what I can do to salvage the remaining time of this challenge.

Long term goals, death, and the sun are all the same. You cannot focus or look directly at them for long periods of time or you burn out. I am going through some of this right now. If you want to be better, you have to set up habits that make you better....that is the idea of this 6 week challenge. If you form these habits as habits and not as a six week trial, you will improve over time.....but being motivated will only last so long....that is why we develop the habits. The habit takes over when we lose our motivation. Habits are boring. I brush my teeth before I go to bed every night. Not motivated to do it, but I do it. It is a habit. I get up and take a shower before work every day. Not exciting, sexy, or motivational, but I do it because it is a habit....and I don't want to be stinky. You have to get up and do the work. Even when you arent motivated. You don't have to be motivated to do the work. Ugly win. Get on it!

Flu shot .... no workout on Monday. I went home and slept. I had to get the flu shot; it is required for work. I work in a hospital system. So another failure....no inspiration this round folks. I am just trying to get through the month. BUT, all papers are done. I need to submit them Thursday.

It is Monday. The only goal I may meet is my life learning papers goal. I have sucked at wheat and sleeping has been difficult. I have started doing this thing where I am tired and go to bed. I sleep very deeply and hard for about an hour. Then I wake up and play hell trying to get back to sleep. Last night I tried a different approach. When I woke, I got up, took a Valerian root extract and read for 45 minutes. Got back to sleep but really only had 6.5 - 7 hours of sleep. Which is better than it has been. I will be able to function on that amount of sleep. I have not been exercising at all. The plan is to get one in tonight. On a positive note, other than wheat issues, I am eating fairly well. So I will smile about that. Otherwise, not doing so well this round.

The only easy day............ Embrace the......... And your little dog too.....

Okay, the challenge......failing. I don't think I have hit one goal..... But I did make this Now I am still working on the goals. I just don't know how I am gonna hit them.

The only easy day was yesterday

Update. Back from staycation/birthday week. Gave myself a pass on the wheat for that week. But now I am on the eliminate wheat (other than trace). So far so good....but that is one meal Got a lot of exercise in with all the activity I did while I was on staycation. Fixed My Dryer. Replaced the motor, which is mounted on a plate, that flexed beyond the ability of being able to keep a sensor switch in the proper place....bypassed the switch and we have a working dryer. Had Navy Buddy in Friday night, another over on Saturday. The GF is great, because she sucked it up...moved into the new house on Sunday and the following weekend was entertaining....and not thrilled with the bachelor "mess" (as she calls it)...but made the best of it. Shot a fight scene for a video contest, edited most of it. That was a blast. Went to the Dayton philharmonic/opera/ballet combined performance. Had a leisurely coffee with my sister and nephew. Cooked out with Mom and Dad that sister and nephew joined. Was interviewed to represent the adult program at the oldest Historically Black college in the USA. It was video taped and will be used with promotional materials for Wilberforce University. Lots of sleep. Just found out I may only have two life learning papers to do instead of three. That is a win.

Looking good overall. Keep at it.

Monkeys.....everywhere

Once again I debated participating in this challenge. And here I am....but almost not. I keep acting like it is some great effort to update here once a week or so. Even though I check on everyone almost every day. I say I am digging in for a final push, but the push will start at the end of this challenge. The push is to finish my thesis and final class for my degree. I have a few thesis meetings and a semester class that I will have to do in five weeks. Then it is simply Thesis presentation. So my goals this challenge are as follows: 1. Minimize Wheat. Trace wheat is fine, but I want to limit my wheat intake to one day a week. That is for five of the six weeks. My birthday is a week from today, so for this week I am taking vacation from Wednesday through the following Tuesday. During that time I have no illusions. There will be cake and bread of some form. Yes I will eat some of it. 2. Exercise two times per week. Last challenge it was once a week. I was able to maintain that and all but one week I did two or three workouts. Now, I want to clarify this goal as I ran into something yesterday that I will probably see a few times over the next few weeks. Yesterday I moved a great deal of stuff from one house to the other. It was physically exhausting. Those days will count as a work out. 3. Sleep 7.5 hours a night or more 5 days a week. 4. Get all three life learning papers submitted. These three papers have to be written outside of the Thesis and any other class to complete my degree. That is it for now. Go forth and ROCK ON!

Just hitching a ride. Thought I might tag along.

Rock on. That is all.

I am glad to hear that your parents are getting on board with fitness and, more importantly, supporting you as a young woman! Rock ON!

Soooooo overall. Went well. I met my goals. Attack what can be attacked was a bit suspect. Hard to quantify as I did all the work I could get done, but had some issues with group projects taking up too much time. Well in my estimation. That was due to the people that wanted to do their work at the last minute. Soooo I call it good. I did terrible last challenge, and well this challenge. So I am kind of back at 0 with the averaging out. Rock on and much love to those that have taken the time to read my challenge.

I got my workout in last night. I did front squats for the first time, followed by standard squats, and then did progressive dead lifts. I was paged for work (I was oncall) and thus my homework did not get done. But the goal was to attack what could be attacked and thus it was not a failure. It was disappointing as I will now have to try and do the homework tonight and finish up tomorrow morning. I only got about 5.5 hours of sleep last night, so I need to make sure I don't miss any sleep this weekend. I made some protein peanut butter cookies last night. They turned out pretty good. The texture is a bit different than the ones my grandma made, but they are tasty. Got the recipe here (You gotta love the name "buff dudes"):

Soooooo Friday I lifted. Bench 185# 2 sets of 5, 255# 4 sets of 3. Bent over Row 185# 2 sets of 3, 195# 3 sets of 3. This is a big win as, due to grip strength, I was unable to do 5 sets @ 185#. Grip improving. Saturday I moved a desk, 1/2 a sectional, a TV and Playstation 3, and a stand to put them on to the new house. OH and Bob. Bob is a 6' diameter bean bag chair. Bob the blob. Yes 6' across. Only awesome. Sunday....I ate pizza and watched movies. I was worn right out. I had slept in, and could not find energy to do much of anything. Monday I went and got the legs for the desk, that I had forgotten on Saturday, then set up the desk and moved my office into a spare bedroom. Originally I had planned to use the attic, but it was simply too hot. Until I have money to cool and heat it, I have to simply use the attic as storage. Workout, lunches, sleep all good last week. The attacking suffered a bit over the weekend. There was school work I could do, but I did not. However, I did attack the other things to do with the house and long term things such as getting an office set up that I can actually use. So I am not sure how to score this, but I am not upset about it. I took care of some serious business and took one day off to relax.

If I may......even if I mayn't ....... I want to point out something to help you ensure that you lead a happy life. While the drive to be a Marine is great, it is okay if you change your mind at some point. I AM NOT TELLING YOU TO CHANGE YOUR MIND. But I think you have a time coming soon where you should sit down and do what I called "start from nothing". You review what you believe, mostly about yourself, and make sure it matches reality. Then set goals accordingly. This requires brutal honesty with yourself. It is important to know that it is okay to change your opinion and your goals about things. As you gain experience and understanding of yourself, if you are living a full life as God intended, you will let go of things that were forced on you by authority figures and adjust as truth is reveled to you. Such as "honor your father and mother..." The rest of that commandment is "so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you." In context, this was specific to the promise land that Moses would see but never inhabit. Sure these are all good rules to follow, but they were specific for a group of people that were wandering around in the wilderness. Follow that by what Jesus says when asked which commandment is most important........ But I want to point out, it says honor ....not obey. (the literal translations) And honor does not mean to put up with crap. Now, living in her house, you gotta do what you gotta do. Just food for thought. As always, sent with big .

YAY for a job! WOOT WOOT WOOT! The best thing you can do in your life is take brutally honest looks at yourself. Do it often. But also make sure your expectations of what you expect are realistic. And accept that what is done is done. You need to love yourself and move forward. If you don't accept and love yourself, you will not move forward. Big love

That was basically it. I felt obligated to stay in the box, and I don't wanna! But it was easier to talk myself out of the same old same old than to say I am going to really push one complex exercise and see what I can do. I have hit a base level of strength where I am moving toward the 3x3 or 5x3 type. This has mandated longer recovery between sets. But I really need to find a way to do more low intensity cardio. I am looking at moving to a 3x3 or 5x3 as mentioned. It would have a bit more variety than the 5x5. That is easier to do for me after doing the exact same stuff for so long. Am lifting in a power rack for a reason. I have safety bars for squats and bench, and I know how to bail on squats, dead lifts, and bent over rows. Now I just have to get more weight to ensure a proper level of worry....I mean proper level of muscle growth.....