Team 7

I'm going to end things with this thread. I've been reading a lot of other people's posts on the site that generate a lot of conversation and have come to realize my hard-headed approach to doing things and my posts write-ups detailing it really aren't that popular a way of going about things. I post long winded overly detailed things that use a lot of words to ultimately convey so little, and usually my words are poorly chosen anyway. My posts are not fun to read. I see people use memes and GIFs and such to dress them up and those are fun and creative! I am definitely not built for posting my thoughts (i.e. ramblings) and am going to end this. (Yeah, I lifted chunks of this from my other thread's final writeup, for those of you who think this sounds familiar). I'll continue to work on my goals, I mean these are for me and dammit I want them! The world is crap and stress is skyrocketing, not just with the covid-19 but with personal and family struggles and issues... but ultimately the things I have that I control are my goals and the work I put into them. That's what drives me forward, and the world and that defeatist voice in the back of my head I've been beating down for the past month and a half won't be taking them from me. If I feel like procrastinating, I am the one who is getting screwed... by me! Do I want to be in the same boat a week from now, month(s) from now, year(s) from now? When I decide something is too hard to do or I am just too tired and that staring at the TV is more fun, then I am screwing myself over. I won't do that. To make sure I found an online buddy to drive me forward and keep me accountable, and I'll be doing the same for them. We'll make sure we both make it to our respective finish lines. Good luck to everyone! I believe that when we all come out the other side of the covid-19 crisis, we will be showing the world the hard work we put into reaching out goals!

Thanks //Min! Hopefully we can all channel our inner butt-kicker and show the world what we are capable of! Weekly recap... It was a good week fitness wise. The diet remains on track, of course when a greasy burger can make me sick as a dog it isn't tough to stay away from them and other no-nos. Though I do fondly remember bacon-cheese burgers... give me a minute to weep silently in requiem... Ok, let's quash that trip down memory lane and get back to the task at hand. My foot is feeling great. Well, it is feeling normal (which is great) when I walk on paved or (more importantly) on grass/uneven ground. This past week's walking schedule: Sunday 3 miles, Tuesday 4 miles, Thursday 3 miles, and this Saturday morning 6 miles in 7.5 inches of snow. Yeah, walking outside this morning was definitely a "What the hell??!?" moment. I'll be logging some more footwork as I shovel out. Anyway, I don't feel a twinge to remind me to take it easy until I run for more than a minute or so. And even that is a twinge, not drop-to-the-ground pain like when I first dragged myself home after the original injury. I'm not running on a schedule, the only time I run now is when I am walking a rambunctious dog and they get excited. Even then I'm mindful to take it easy, just to see how it feels and how long it holds. I still have the rest of April to work it and evaluate, and May to also rehab. I won't push it, I have long term goals and overall not permanently messing up my mobility is way more important! The core... the waist is slimmed down, the abs are more defined. At the beginning of the last challenge I did the standard body measurements as an easy way to do a "before and after" evaluation, and I have lost three inches off the waist since starting the first challenge at the beginning of March. The burgeoning muffin top I had gotten used to seeing over the last decade-plus is pretty much gone, thankfully. I'm going to start thinking of some more ab specific exercises for May to build on the success in this area. But I will give credit where credit is due: the exercises are great and have toned and started to build things up (particularly around the chest and shoulders thanks to the plates) and the walking/hiking from the first challenge melted some fat, but it is definitely the cleaned-up and consistent diet that has made the bulk of the improvements. I also noticed over the past month and a half that my skin seems to be better off from I'm guessing the increased hydration and ton of cucumbers I've been eating. The reason I can state the diet as being key is because I have done exercises for months on end before without the diet and never got close to the results I am seeing now. Back then I'd build muscle in the targeted areas (which melted away quickly after stopping the exercises), but the muffin top never budged as long as the garbage-diet remained. The deadlifts... meh... I will continue them for April, but I'm going to up the weight to 150lbs. For those of you wondering my body weight is now 172lbs, so 150lbs is considered novice level (or well below... always was an underachiever). I'm not body-building, so I have no shame in taking it slow! Hopefully my back is getting something out of it. Back issues run in my family, so the plate exercises that stretch it in different ways with weight and the deadlifts are pushing any eventual back failures further into the future. I guess this is a GOOD example of kicking the can down the road! I'm upping the plate exercises by 10 pounds for each tier of the pyramid, so for example the minimum tier will go from 5 pounds to 15 pounds, and the maximum tier will go from 45 to 55 pounds. Not much to say about this routine, I'm seeing great results but there have been no surprising revelations to report. It seems to be good for the upper body, yay. The Tai Chi is definitely an exercise I'm enjoying and will look to incorporate it permanently going forward. I turn on my Tai Chi music mix and just start the moves and the next thing I know time has flown by. The stretching and relaxation are worth it all by themselves, but the balance improvements are icing on the cake. I started working on doing a handstand, and I'm sure that it has been hilarious to watch from a minimum safe distance of ten feet. I'm becoming an expert at the frog stand and tentatively raising and lowering each leg. Oh well, we all started somewhere, right? The wrists/forearms exercises are hopefully going to contribute something to this endeavor. I'm hoping we get some consistent better weather soon (~70 degrees one day and snow a few days later? Seriously??!?), because I want to eventually take all of the exercises outside permanently. I live far out in the middle of nowhere where cinder trucks fear to tread, so there is no one to point and laugh when I do this stuff at home. But even if there were, the hell with them, right? It's the results that speak volumes. I'm going to end things with this thread. I've come to two realizations that have been a month and a half in the making. First, I think I've reached a great place fitness-wise. When I was younger I grew into a plateau weight of approximately 165lbs. I spent decades at that weight, never able to go up without exercising, and when I stopped exercising I'd go back down to that weight. I made it down to 169lbs over the last month and a half for the first time in 20 years. Now I am creeping back up. I'm guessing the hard-headed "you gotta want it" attitude I approached this with and the hard work of rigorously sticking to the diet and exercise burned off a lot of garbage I ate and drank over the past almost 20 years of a stressful job and now I'm building back up with the muscle I'm seeing in the upper body and legs. Getting away fitness-wise from people patting me on the head and telling me they are sure I'll do better next time when things go wrong instead of helping me actually stick to the schedule definitely helped. Success has become addictive, and I'm going to continue. I'm thankful to have made it back to where I started before stress eating and drinking empty calories got me to where I was. And now I'm thankful to be able to look forward to what's ahead. My goal is to make 179lbs my new normal. I've been reading a lot of other people's posts that generate a lot of conversation. Which brings me to my second realization... wow my posts suck. Not just when I post these challenge logs but when I post everywhere on this site. I post long winded overly detailed things that use a lot of words to ultimately convey so little, and usually my words are poorly chosen anyway. My posts are not fun to read. I see people use memes and GIFs and such to dress them up and those are fun and creative! I am definitely not built for posting my thoughts (i.e. ramblings) and am going to end this. I hope this post finds everyone healthy and happy. Have a great week everyone, and ultimately have a great fitness journey! Good luck to everyone!

I apologize, "drill sergeant" in my original post was too extreme a description of someone who would help you stay accountable.

Below is my take on sticking to a schedule based on recent experience. I'll be up front, I don't have a wife or kids, and I have nothing but respect for the people that are taking care of their kids during this crisis. Their time is the kids' time, and there pretty much is no such thing as a personal schedule, just short stolen moments to themselves if they are lucky. The following is written from my single-guy perspective. I think a thread for parents taking care of kids at home would be an awesome thing to have on this site; if people could share ideas, stories, and overall support, everyone can benefit. If there is such a thing already, that's great! A set schedule and accountability worked wonders for me. I had been meandering through years of workout routines that fizzled out and long periods of inactivity and bad diets and bursts of inspiration that were the equivalent of a sugar rush that boosted my willpower then crashed me back down to where I was worse off than before because I would beat myself up because I failed yet again. But here is the thing about accountability: it needs to be real. I've tried over past years to do something new and rely on a friend to hold me accountable. Unfortunately I also knew those friends would be lax and coddle me. That's what friends do, right? It never failed that when I would fail, my friends would come back with "It's ok, you'll get it next time!" That doesn't help. I'm sure some people will read this and take offense, but when I am working toward a goal I'm not looking for a cheerleader to make me feel better, I'm looking for a drill sergeant to make me be better. I appreciate the person that I have to explain my failures to and let them know what I am going to do to clean it up. The covid crisis is awful on multiple levels and in multiple ways, but it did give us one thing: more idle time. I started out on an original personal challenge trying to set up a schedule of diet and fitness that would work with my NORMAL daily schedule. It took some time to dial it in. There were some adjustments because of the covid lock down a few weeks in, hell I imagine we all have made some adjustments due to the current world climate. What I would do is consider that you have been watching your schedule go to hell over the past few weeks. Why not take a few weeks or longer if necessary to tune in a new schedule? Don't rush it, it is too easy to let a small failure (and trust me, there will be small failures!) derail you and drop you into a funk where you sit for a few more weeks or longer letting yourself wallow in despair. And that is more time gone by with nothing to show. Been there and done that! If you are still working outside of the house, you can skip this paragraph because you are set when it comes to this block of time on your day. Even though I am working from home, I factored in my drive time to work and back when building my schedule. I take lunch at a set time each day (unless something work-wise screws that up). I don't exercise during the work time. It had been a temptation to shift the work lunch time but shifting a schedule has always been a slippery slope for me. For anyone that isn't working because of a layoff, I suggest you still block out the period of the day that you would have been working (plus some travel time to and from) and keep that time free from your schedule. Fill it with things that you would like to do or learn to do, not with household chores. You'll still need to do those chores when the world no longer sucks and you are back to work. Don't succumb to the temptation to "work a little more" beyond the time you blocked out for work. I spent years doing that, and getting home at all sorts of odd times pretty much scuttled any schedule. For years getting out of bed was the first challenge I usually dreaded every day, and I imagine a lot of people feel the same, especially now that isolation can be blurring one day into the next. I recommend some kind of an exercise once you get out of bed in the morning at the same time each day of the week. Something that gets the blood pumping. This worked wonders for me. Once the blood is pumping, all other activities seemed to be more palatable and easier to accomplish. And you'll want to capitalize on that activity by eating something to either refuel or let the body more easily absorb because your metabolism has been kicked into overdrive. Getting out of bed at a consistent time is a big hurdle. But that is when the day begins and accountability starts. I took videos of my workouts. I took photos of my food. Sounds like overkill, but if I didn't it would have been way too easy to lapse because I got damn good at being damn bad over the years. This site also helped me because I felt that once I started something I needed to keep up the workouts and updates or people would look at my abruptly discontinued thread and just shrug me away as someone that just stopped trying. I tend to overthink things and thinking that people wrote me off would haunt me. Do you have someone that you can give a proposed schedule to and you'll commit to checking in with them at set intervals, and they will commit to checking in with you if you don't do it first? Even if it is once a day where you need to account for everything and they need to connect with you as well to verify. Maybe you can send them "proof of life eating" photos of a meal held up next to something that will document the date and time (something on TV like those 24 hour news channels?). Or you can upload the pics to somewhere people can see them. Can you record your exercises/activities with timestamps and post them somewhere for people to see? And always remember that the real world will throw curveballs at you and that no one can stick perfectly to a schedule; if you miss something, acknowledge it and move on. Don't let not sticking perfectly to a schedule depress you to the point it knocks you back to square one! If you can find a buddy on this site that also wants your feedback on their schedule, that would be the best of both worlds. But it would need to be someone that is going to be the drill sergeant you need!

That's a good way of looking at exercise. The workouts are just a tool in the overall toolbox. It can suck when the initial excitement of a new schedule wears off and the exercise routine becomes mechanical and there is no passion to it. I'm glad I found this site because it helps force me to be accountable and to keep going with my schedule. No one watches me exercise (thank God for that!), but they do see the results when I do things I love like play a game of volleyball or when I am just running around playing with kids. Kids love me because I'm the fun adult that will get out in the yard and play tag or race or whatever at the family get togethers. Exercise also makes the day to day chores and errands easier.

Weekly recap... I'm doing my weekly recaps Saturday mornings after the scheduled items are marked off. For me, Sunday is the start of a brand new "this is going to be better" week (spoiler: it never is). As most of us know, Monday through Friday are the days of non-stop activity. Saturday for me is usually a day of errands and outside chores and catching up from the week and the official wind-down. In other words, the perfect day to recap. I officially started this personal challenge on Wednesday morning, 4/8. I found some motivators to get me back to attacking exercises and posting how things were going. But let's stay away from talking about the unhealthy motivators and list the healthy ones! Music! - Believe it or not in the previous month long challenge I did, I didn't listen to music while exercising. Sure, there were the occasional "I'm pissed at the world and am going to spend the day blaring music" incidents, I mean who hasn't been there? But there was never music lists structured to get the blood pumping, or to help calm things down. I put together some playlists of music for the plate exercises, specialty exercises, walking, and Tai Chi. They work great at setting the mood, and helping determine how much more time the session has. Or I just put the list on repeat and let the Tai Chi relaxation take me away... Turn off the TV! - Coronavirus news is depressing! Political sniping is ridiculous! Grand-standing egos and lying and opinions on the same subject 24/7 (or is it 25/8... days are kind of blending together anymore) are redundant and irritating and redundant! And also redundant! I've limited myself to morning and evening local and world news. If something horrendous happens, I'm guessing it won't immediately affect me where I am and I'll hear all about it between 6AM and 7AM, and 6PM and 7PM. I just want facts and data, not opinion and bickering and overall childishness stretching on for hours and hours. The radio is now my friend! Weird Al was right on pretty much every album when he sings about how much TV sucks! Talk to someone at least once per day! - Text, phone, Skype, Zoom if I want hackers to take a visual tour of my immediate personal space... It's funny, once upon a time I would go for a week's vacation and not talk to anyone for days on end, then the following Saturday after a marathon of Criminal Minds and watching the dozenth depraved f#%& commit some messed up murder spree, I'd think to myself that I need to go interact with people to reconnect with humanity. Just going to the store to get a sub was a break from the self-induced cabin fever. Now, with everything that is going on, I am feeling reinvigorated when I talk to people more regularly. Once the world clown car 180's from its current course to suckage, I'll need to continue this crazy concept of regular human interaction, just *gasp* in person! Now let's get to recapping the exercises... Core - It's funny how you can do a previous month of core exercises, get to where you are feeling pretty good when you finish, then switch out with new exercises and find the small group of muscles that was missed in the past month. Definitely feeling the new core exercises. I like the standard unmoving plank. Such a fundamental exercise, yet I never really got into it before. Now that it will be a regular for a month, it'll be interesting to see how long I can hold it. Wrists/Forearms - I used to do this same exercise a long time ago when there was a girl... alright, doing this for me now... focus... When I did this exercise before, I used the same weights but less reps in the pyramid steps. I still have a lot of that strength I built up before, but having upped the reps for this schedule was a good decision. This is the exercise I knew from experience to save for LAST in the morning, because my forearms are Jello and my grip is shot when I am finished. Can't argue with the results though! The last time I did this I did it every morning, and never gave the needed day in between to allow for growth. Yup, this is a vanity exercise. It'll be interesting to see what happens this time. Butt - Let's be honest, the weight plate exercises end up with 145 squats. The walking works the glutes. I'm not sure what the deadlifts are going to add in regard to this part of the anatomy, but deadlifts are good for other areas (the back!). Like I said, I'm not going for bulk, so I am keeping this light with just 110 pounds (2 45s and 2 10s) and 25 reps. After the previous month of the weight plates and walking, I'm not really all that sore from three days of this. I'll run this for the month, if I don't feel this more I'll up the weight. I may not get anything from it for the butt, but it is good for the back. Plate exercises - This hasn't really changed from the past challenge in terms of "aha!" moments. I noticed a slight twinge in my foot when the weight shifts from side to side causing pressure on the side of the foot, but the actual foot steps themselves for the moves are pretty much forward and back, and that doesn't seem to aggravate anything. Stepping back 10 pounds from where I ended before to assess how my foot was going to feel was a good move. Walking - This is the one I was most focused on. This week, while I didn't start this challenge until Wednesday, I did do the Tuesday distance after posting this new challenge thread just to get the schedule started. Tuesday 4 miles, Thursday 3 miles, Saturday 5 miles. In an effort to rehab, I moved away from the route I did in the last challenge and elected for a more level area to walk. I noticed that there was a difference between walking on paved running tracks and sidewalks where I would feel no pain, and walking on grass/fields where the foot can sink into the wet ground or the ground was a little uneven and the shifting would cause some pain. I started alternating miles, the first mile paved, the next on the grass next to the paved area, the next paved, etc. I want to strengthen my foot and also work and stretch it. I'll be honest, the damn thing hurt at the end of each session, but seemed to recover in a few hours afterwards. We'll just have to see. Tai Chi - This was added because on the walking days I am able to knock out the miles pretty quick, so far in the mornings after waking up. Doing Tai Chi has been a good stretch of my foot and everything else. I don't have a set time per day or length of time for this, this is a feel-good exercise for rehab and balance. I enjoy it, so it will be easy to jump to during off times in the day. The balance will come in handy for other things. I plan on being able to do a handstand someday soon! The diet is good, no temptations taking me off track. I'm a creature of habit (and pretty much non-existent taste buds), so I don't really crave foods I shouldn't be eating. To be well rounded, I'm doing some reading, some tech work, some sketching, and some archery. And typing like a normal person to someday look like I know what I am doing! This took forever to type! I plan on emerging from this isolation cocoon an improved person! Here's to everyone on Nerd Fitness and their continued health! Remember that when things get you down to reach out to the community of friends that we have here for support and inspiration!

Points to anyome that can come up with a working mask to mimic DC's The Question. It would make for great overall protection!

I like the idea of personalizing your mask! I'm a steampunk fan myself, maybe my Friday evening covid activity will be designing an appropriate mask. Thanks for the inspiration!

Yeah, in regards to the marathon goal, I do have it in the back of my head that my goal may be unrealistic. The injury is only a few weeks old and has improved many-fold, so I am still operating on guy-logic that I can beat it. I've had so many other injuries before that I've gotten past by hard work and sheer force of will (and a dash of stupidity) that I like to think it will work for this as well. But I am older, so that factors in as well... I'll be taking it slow, and evaluating as I go to keep from doing any permanent damage. Thanks for your concern and having the guts to give me realistic advice, I've always relied on others to tell me the hard truths and keep me from doing stupid things! Much appreciated! 😊

Hand reflexology, actually. I started going grey in my early thirties. Stress, stress, stress (or that's what I like to think). Supposedly the reflexology practice of repeatedly buffing your fingernails together will stimulate your hair follicles. The writeups say that it helps for balding or grey hair. Personally, I don't know if it is true, but I know when I repeatedly do the move for five minutes, when I stop I can feel the tingle going up my arms. To test it, I did the same arm movements and hand positions for five minutes, without buffing the nails together, and did not get the same tingling feeling, therefore the buffing was producing the feeling. I kind of figure that the practice will be more beneficial for people that are balding, if it does anything. But I am doing it three times a day, five minutes at a time. Hell, fifteen minutes out of the day isn't a big thing. Maybe it works, maybe not, won't know if I don't try! I cue up a five minute Youtube song ("Cool Change", Little River Band) and relax and let the tingle flow over me as I buff. I'll let you know if it works!

The pain in my foot got me to thinking. Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday being set for walking is all well and good, but some additional rehab would be beneficial. I can go the walking distance easily enough in the morning before work, and then I have the rest of the day open. I'm going to throw in some Tai Chi. It's great for stretching in general, but it also works the feet as you go from one movement to another. Walking and then stopping somewhat abruptly may not be beneficial if I don't roll and stretch the foot afterwards. An additional bonus, it is great for balance. I recently came across posts by @Mad Hatter showing her work perfecting her balance doing a handstand, and she inspired me to think beyond the limited exercises I have posted. I used to be able to do a handstand as a kid a long long LONG time ago, it would be fun to be able to do it again. Or I'll be bouncing myself off the floor, walls, and furniture. Probably the latter. Thanks to everyone on this site for posting their unique fitness goals, you definitely inspire others to branch out and try new things!

After a depressing walk this morning that was a reminder of how great a job I did at messing up my foot, I started poking around this site looking for inspiration and found your posts detailing your progress doing handstands. I am impressed! I had forgotten that hands could be used for something other than constant disinfecting (damn you coronavirus!) I'm sending two hugs your way: one for inspiring me to try something new, and one to let you know we are all here for you! And to all of us out there that are doing our part to keep the hospitals from being flooded by keeping the infection from spreading like wildfire by staying home, imagine the world-wide party when we can all get together again! Can't wait to see you there!

The Outsider - Stephen King

Right there with you. Going about the day mechanically, accomplishing the normal schedules of working out and chores but not feeling it. In my case, I know it isn't the coronavirus induced isolation because growing up painfully shy I've been practicing social distancing with a side of staying at home most of my life. For an explanation of my listlessness I'm going to steal your answer of ennui. But then a dream(? irritating nightmare!) of someone jarred me awake yesterday and I'm back to cranking music and attacking workouts. "Women" by Def Leppard on repeat is a kick-butt workout song. I'm going to ride this emotional high for as long as I can to get the most of my workouts. Probably not healthy mentally or emotionally, but here we are. Do you write fan fiction? Have any artistic outlets? I know you mentioned in this thread liking Hawkeye and Winter Soldier team-ups. Have you written any fan fiction? What is your dream team of characters? I always liked the original Wildstorm Team 7, Grifter in particular. But my dream team mix... Grifter, Wolverine, Tao, Forge, The Question, Gambit, Deadpool, Zealot, Hawkeye, and season 1 Arrow (the kick-ass version). A team with a good blend of brains and skill to get the job done. I do believe I'll attempt a drawing! Hang in there. A way to look at this isolation is that we can use it to improve ourselves, and when we get back out in the world we can show off the changes. A lot of people haven't seen me since I first came to this site and started regularly working out. I'm hoping to shock some people. I'm betting you can too!

For the last two weeks I've been mechanically doing workouts and walking. As you could tell from my final posts in my first thread, Project 1: 30 Days - Foundation Work, I was running out of witty ways to say "business as usual" when doing updates. Sure, it was fun at first when I was trying to find my stride with the schedule; the stumbling around gave me something to talk about on a daily basis. Then things became natural, and in the end it was all mechanical. While I was still doing the schedule, it was done without any thought... no passion. I needed motivation to post again and to tear into the exercises. One bad dream and a looming birthday later, I'm starting another personal log. 162 days (163 minus 1 because on day 163 I will be eating cake)... or 23 weeks and change... or 5 months and change... then the birthday will be here. And in 2021 I have a class reunion to think about, and SHE will be there. The star of my crap dream last night... the motivation that has kicked me into overdrive today. For those of you that have had your heart torn out but moved on in a healthy way and are thinking that revenge is petty, here's the secret of being me: deep down I'm an awful person. But awful doesn't mean inefficient! So let's combine as many things as possible. Note that this log will be concentrating on exercise only, not other aspects of personal development. The diet is the same as in the original foundation-building thread. Things are starting to calm down with the pandemic, and the panic buying of food has wound down a bit. My diet is pretty basic. And I am not body-building, I am going for "functional strength", or whatever the proper wording is for that. Lean muscle? Over the next 5 months and change I'll be exercising according to the following schedule: Morning: Sunday/Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday - I'll be doing a marathon training schedule. Due to an injury I'm doing April and May as rehab where I will be walking the first month of a 90 day schedule, then doing the first month of the schedule again combining walking and jogging. Then June, July, and August will be game on. Monday/Wednesday/Friday/Saturday - CORE: Seated Twist - 30 to 60 seconds (this will be switched out with another core exercise in a month) Burpees X 10 Plank - 30 to 60 seconds (this will be switched out with another core exercise in a month) Burpees X 10 Kneeling Twist - 30 to 60 seconds (this will be switched out with another core exercise in a month) Burpees X 10 Wood Choppers (left and right X 10) (this may or may not be switched out with another core exercise in a month, I love this exercise!) Burpees X 10 Bent Knee Wiper (this will be switched out with another core exercise in a month) Burpees X 10 WRISTS/FOREARMS: I use a dumbbell handle with a rope tied to it, and the other end of the rope has a carabiner tied to it. I can then thread the rope through various weight plate combinations to run through a pyramid of weights. I stand and roll the dumbbell handle to wind up the rope and lift the weights, when the weight is to the dumbbell I unroll it. Don't let the weights drop! Unroll it! I do the following pyramid: 5 pounds 15 times, 10 pounds 10 times, 15 pounds 5 times, 10 pounds 10 times, 5 pounds 15 times. I do this after all other exercises that need grip and forearms in general, this wipes them out! BUTT: Definitely a vanity exercise. I'm not stupid (debatable)... ok I'm not entirely stupid. If you get more than one person complimenting you on a body part, you want to keep it in mind when exercising. I'm going to throw some dead lifts in. Each month I'll look at switching out the exercise for another. Midday: Sunday/Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday - See the marathon training verbiage in the morning part of the schedule. Walking/jogging can be broken up through the day during the rehab cycle, but the final three months of running must be done all in the same session to build the necessary endurance. Monday/Wednesday/Friday - Just get out and go for a walk on non-marathon days during the work week! Evening: Sunday/Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday - See the marathon training verbiage in the morning part of the schedule. Walking/jogging can be broken up through the day during the rehab cycle, but the final three months of running must be done all in the same session to build the necessary endurance. Monday/Wednesday/Friday/Saturday - Ladder/pyramid workout with weight plates. Due to a foot injury, I dropped back to the 45 pound max pyramid. The exercises below focus on upper body, but you have to stand to do them! I'll be upping the weights every three weeks. If things work well, and my body doesn't give out before then, I'll be to 100+ pounds by my birthday. The routine listed below is the same as I did in the foundation-building thread, the moves remind me of a lot of things I do when doing manual labor. Getting the weight above and also away from the body happens a lot in the real world, and I want to be able to walk into any real-world "can you give me a hand" situation ready to go. Plus people tend to take a programmer for granted as being weak, and it's HILARIOUS seeing the look on their face when you stack a couple bundles of shingles on a shoulder and climb a ladder while helping them re-shingle their roof! Routine: Stand up from a squat lifting the plate from the floor. Curl the plate to your chest. Do a standing skull crusher. Bring the plate back down and do a left and right kettle bell ribbon. Do a left and right wood chopper. Bring the plate back to your chest and twist and bend at the waist to the left, then front, then right. Then do two lunges, one with each leg, thrusting the plate out in front of you. Then squat back down, touching the plate to the floor, which returns you to the starting position. The ladder/pyramid for this is using the following plates and reps: Do the routine above with 5 pounds, 25 times. This makes for a nice warm up. Do the routine above with 15 pounds, 20 times. Do the routine above with 25 pounds, 15 times. Do the routine above with 35 pounds, 10 times. Do the routine above with 45 pounds, 5 times. Do the routine above with 35 pounds, 10 times. Do the routine above with 25 pounds, 15 times. Do the routine above with 15 pounds, 20 times. Do the routine above with 5 pounds, 25 times. This make for a nice cool down. As I said, every three weeks the weight for each step will go up. I WON'T BE DOING DAILY UPDATES! Let's be honest, after the first few weeks of a new schedule, there are few surprises to talk about. And the schedule above has been already tweaked over a month already. Instead, I'll be doing regular weekly updates to let you know I am still alive if nothing else. If anyone has a question, comment, criticism, whatever, I'll try to answer it. If something important comes up during the week or I am blessed with a sudden burst of enlightenment in regards to something somewhere along the line that can't wait until the normal update, I'll post it. I plan on riding this challenge up to my birthday, then beyond (hence the "Long Term" wording in the goals). Like I mentioned above, I have a reunion coming up next year. So I need to keep the exercise going. If just to see the look on a certain someone's face... yep, I'm petty. And a final tidbit, I typed this by typing CORRECTLY. Fingers in the home position, moving the correct fingers to the correct keys. It took FOREVER! But learning to type is a long-time goal, and I need to get off my sorry butt and do it. See 2020... Time to be better than 2019! Oh, and a final FINAL tidbit, the name "Team 7" refers to the Wildstorm (not DC) military specialists team, and not the Naruto team or anime or whatever that is!