Lou186000

Today was Darebee Postal day. I've replaced the pull-ups with bodyweight rows. Last time I did this routine a week ago I had to do the last few push-ups on my knees, and even those were hard. This time `round I was able to do bona fide push-ups all the way through all three circuits, but I wasn't fast at the circuits themselves. Still, feel like I'm getting a bit stronger. Also, after months of not losing weight, I'm refocusing on food intake, recording much better in myfitnesspal, and starting to shed some pounds again. Recording my food input definitely makes a difference, at least for me. Off to unwind, then bed.

Just finished 5 circuits of the Darebee Armory+. Planks are the hardest bit. Feel like I did the sets a tad more efficiently this time around, and also bet I'll be able to add a circuit next time too. Using 8lb db in each hand. Next strength session will be Tuesday, so two days of active recovery. Tonight's anniversary dinner out, so almost certainly this will be a treat/spoil/off-the-wagon meal, but it should be nice nevertheless.

Well, today could be a duplicate entry for April 13th, which isn't bad. Did cardio in the morning and just did a Darebee Fremen circuit. I completed just under 3 and a half circuits of the following: 10 squats 5 push-ups 10 shoulder taps 10 squats 5 close grip push-ups (I tanked here on the 4th circuit) 10 plank arm raises 10 squats 5 wide grip push-ups 10 planks with rotations Felt good, but it was hard. One thing I did today is I got my session in a few hours earlier rather than the last thing in the day. This is a challenge because I have to be sure dinner is taken care of for the family (I'm the first grownup home). Motivation to prepare a few meals ahead of time, which I've never been good at. Next strength session will be Saturday!

The personal program is going well. Tonight was my first strength session for this week, the Darebee Postal workout. Holy guacamole that was tough. But I made it through three sets of the circuit, so go me! Here's the circuit: bodyweight rows (to failure) 20 lunges 20 lunge step-ups 40 overhead punches 10 push-ups 10 shoulder taps 40 punches 10 wide grip push-ups 10 shoulder taps The last 10 push-ups I did the final few on my knees, and they were still hard to do, but I finished, dangit. Winding down, then off to bed.

Welcome, OfficeSchmoe! Nerds of all flavors abide here, looks to me like you'll fit in just fine! I think one of the valuable pieces of advice I got from Rebel Leader Steve when I read his materials a while ago was to not attempt to make a bunch of changes all at once. If memory serves, I think I did two things at the outset: I started walking more, and I added spinach to my diet. That was it. I ate a lot of spinach, too, by mixing it with stuff at least a couple of meals a day. After a month or so of that I added another healthy food to my regular intake. I think that was almond milk, started having that with my cereal. Oh -- here's what else I did, I started strength training. Didn't join a gym, I just bought some dumbbells and did stuff in my living room. Anyway, that's one suggestion where to start: pick something small to change, then stick with it. Eventually pick something additional to change. And finally (and I still struggle with this myself), give yourself time to change. It won't happen overnight, but it will happen. Off to do my strength session for tonight. I'm really enoying doing bodyweight stuff from darebee.com, if you need a routine that you can do in your living room you might consider checking it out. Good luck!

As I promised myself, strength session is done for today. I'm keeping up with the mostly bodyweight stuff from Darebee.com and liking it. Today's was the first routine I've done that involved light dumbbells for most moves: the Armory+ workout. I managed 5 circuits of the following, using an 8lb dumbbell in each hand: 30 punches 10 squats 30 punches 10 squats 30 alt bicep curls 10 push-ups 30-count elbow plank 30-count side plank The planks were the toughest part for me, but I managed. By the 5th circuit my arms were drained enough that I had to take a couple of rest breaths during the sets of punches, but I didn't rest long enough to call it a "rest." Off to make a protein shake then hit the shower. Also, realizing that I'll have to create some sort of calendar/log thing so I can see what I've done at a glance without having to read through this battle log. I write my sets on a clipboard as I go through the workout and keep the paper, but none of it's really organized.

I'm not qualified to give advice on weight lifting (or related nutrition), but I wanted to say congrats at the strength progress made, that's really well done! A site I enjoy reading for general fitness stuff is http://www.livestrong.com/, you may find some guidance either in the articles or in the comments connected to the articles. Good luck!

The week has gone well, and I'm pretty proud of my efforts: up every morning this week (so far) for an early morning walk/run. I'm leaving today's strength session until tomorrow, I've been tied up this afternoon/evening, but I don't mind letting it go for just a day.

The week has been going well. I had some responsibilities to attend to tonight so I didn't start my strength session until after 10pm, which is usually my bedtime. But I felt strong enough and I didn't want to miss a day when I'm building such good momentum. And yesterday went really well too -- I had two cardio sessions, 30 min each, good nutritional input (for the most part), and a good night's sleep. Did cardio this morning and got in my strength session just now, which was a Darebee Fremen: I completed just under 3 and a half circuits of the following: 10 squats 5 push-ups 10 shoulder taps 10 squats 5 close grip push-ups 10 plank arm raises 10 squats 5 wide grip push-ups 10 planks with rotations Two observations: First, I'm getting through the sets more quickly, and second, the sets definitely feel easier than they used to. Okay, winding down, and off to bed. My late bedtime might nuke the possibility of morning cardio, but we'll see.

Alrighty then. One pretty dang good day: met my goal of morning cardio! met my goal of eve strength session! Strength session was the Darebee Postal workout. KILLER. I tried this workout about 3 weeks ago and while I think it went better today, but I could still only get two sets of this circuit in. bodyweight rows (to failure). I did 14 on the first circuit, 9 on the second 20 lunges 20 lunge step-ups 40 overhead punches 10 push-ups 10 shoulder taps 40 punches 10 wide grip push-ups 10 shoulder taps TIme to wind down and then bed.

No DOMS today, but my forearms are a bit tight, and I imagine that's from yesterday's pretty good strength session. At the moment I'm planning to aim for tue-thu-sat this week for strength sessions, with cardio on the other days. But I haven't really decided how to do the days: cardio each morning with strength in the evenings? I think I'll lose more weight more quickly if I do it that way. And I'll admit it's nice to see the scale go down again for the first time in months, so I want to build on that. The single concern about planning to work out in the evenings is that I'm totally capable of deciding I'm too tired to deal with an evening session and blowing it off. But I have been successful with this before, and with really good results. Maybe that'll be the goal for this week, a Lou-only self-challenge. With this in mind, I can do the next strength session tomorrow and not wait until Tuesday. The motivation for the tue-thu-sat routine is that I find it a bit easier to do only two early morning strength sessions during the week. Rising and simply moving is a tad easier for me (mentally and physically) than rising, focusing, and doing strength. Plus, I think I'm stronger in the evenings, despite mental fatigue from a day of adulting. Okay, that's a plan. For this week, cardio in the AM before work, strength sessions on mon-wed-fri evenings. I'll find a new strength routine for tomorrow, something to change it up a bit. Already did a good cardio this morning. I’ll see if I can spend some day on music. Tonight I’m attending my 3rd local acoustic jam, a group I spotted on meetup.com. Last week was a ton of fun, looking forward to more for a few hours tonight. I kind of do this instead of dinner, so I’ll have to be cautious to not overeat when I get home.

Managed to get a strength session in. Didn't really want to, so I count it as a huge win that I even started, much less finished. Today I did a new one, but accessible for me: the Darebee Iron Maiden workout (which my fingers constantly insist on typing as "Iron Mainden"). I managed 4 sets of the following circuit, and did a faceplant on the push-ups in the 5th set so called it good: circuit 40 squats 10 push-ups 40 punches 40 lunge step-ups 10 raised leg push-ups 40 punches At the end did two sets of 20 alternating bicep curls. Protein shake, shower (possibly not in that order), then walk the dog.

Man, still struggling a bit with sleep. Not me, but my wife who is still a couple of weeks away from a full recovery from her pneumonia. I suppose this may be true for others, but for me, no sleep = no exercise and terrible food choices. But I had a really good night's sleep last night, woke well before the up-at-the-last-minute alarm and got an invigorating session in on the elliptical in our basement. Good way to start the day.

morning strength done! Managed to get in 3 sets of the Darebee Fremen workout. Circuit, 3 sets: 10 squats 5 push-ups 10 shoulder taps 10 squats 5 close grip push-ups 10 plank arm raises 10 squats 5 wide grip push-ups 10 planks with rotations After the circuits I did 3 sets of alt db curls. When I started this several weeks ago, 2 sets was my maximum. I'm not sure I'm ready for 4 or even 5 sets of this yet, but I will be soon. Also I'm completing my 3 sets more quickly than I did just 3 weeks ago, which I find interesting. Supposed to be a warm, possibly stormy day. I'm shooting to get some cardio in during the day (midday walk). On with the day!