Mudd

This makes a lot of sense. I tried more-or-less what you advised and experimented with different weight. At 20 lbs, I dropped to 6 reps on the first set, but then jumped back up to 8 or 9 from the 2nd set onward. I think that's probably good enough for now. It does seem like the very first time I try a new amount of weight it's especially hard. Maybe that'll go away as I get more experience working with different amounts of added weight.

I have one of those easy-install doorframe pull up bars. I use it to do a set here-and-there as a break from work. I got it at the beginning of last year, and initially I couldn't do a single pull up. It took some effort to be able to do two good pull ups, but after that, I felt like progress was relatively steady even with a pretty casual workout plan. Right now, I can do 12 pull ups (maybe 13 on a good day), but my progress seems to have stalled. My max reps hasn't changed in months. My plan was to wait until I got to 15 and then start adding weight, but I'm wondering if now is the time. I tried doing a few sets with 10 pounds of weight (just stuff in a backpack). I only did 10 reps on my first set, but by the second, I was already back up to 12. Is there a good rule of thumb either for how much weight I should be adding (my current body weight is about 165) or how many reps I should be down after adding weight? Like just add weight until I can only do six reps or something, and then work my way back up.

Hey! I haven't been as good as I'd like to, but still some decent success. Brought out my banjo for the first time in a while. I got a personal best on my 10k. By like 3 minutes even! I end up doing pull ups the most, just because it's kind of fast and easy. I'll probably end up reading more too, because I would almost always rather read than work out. I think I need to institute a new rule starting next week that at least three of the attempts each week have to be at Mongolian. It's by far the goal I care most about but probably also the one I least frequently feel like doing.

Most of the things I want to make myself do, I actually kind of enjoy once I start doing them. It's just a matter of making myself start in the first place. So the goal this time around is just to start three things from this list each day. It doesn't exactly matter which three, but I'll be tracking which ones I do, so that I can notice quickly if something is being neglected. If I try it for 5 minutes, I'll call it a success for the day, but my strong suspicion is that I won't stop at 5 minutes for any of them. Things to work on Running (or other cardio, once it gets too cold) Banjo Mongolian Reading Writing Meditation Push ups Pull ups Core Flexibility (potentially yoga) Random Nerd Fitness quests I'll also keep an eye on my diet. Right now I'm trying to stay between 1600-1700/day.

Okay, clearly I was terrible about updating this, but my challenge actually went pretty well. I lost a little weight. I ran my fastest mile since high school. I've been running 10ks semi-regularly, for the first time ever. I ran on a pretty wild trail for the first time in ages, rather than just the pavement I normally do. I finally submitted an application for a grant to do my dream research. I've been pretty consistent about studying Mongolian. My form for pull ups/chin ups has become MUCH better this challenge. All the way down and chest to bar. I live in a hilly area now and there are some steep hills I used to have to walk my bike up that I can finally just actually bike up. I never made a concrete plan for what I wanted to do this challenge, but it ended up as a success regardless. I think the key for me is to just check in with myself every now and then and honestly assess whether I'm putting in enough effort.

At the beginning of the year, I could barely run a mile. I kept trying (and failing) to do 5k runs, and I'd always have to start walking during the second mile. I'm not sure what my time for one-mile would have been, but somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 minutes. Back in June, I finally ran a mile in under 8 minutes. Today, I just ran a mile in 6:55. It feels impossible. I was in disbelief when I first saw it, trying to figure out how I could have subtracted a minute somehow or something. It just feels really, really good. I'm super proud of myself right now. My distances have gotten better too. I do 10k on the weekends without it feeling too crazy.

I'm a huge Black Panther fan. I've read every issue of his solo runs. In July, I started trying to read every single appearance he makes in Marvel comics (a task I will never complete). Coate's run of BP is the first comic I ever read as it was coming out. When I heard Boseman was going to be cast as T'Challa, I binged a bunch of his movies. He's consistently great, and I was impossibly excited for Black Panther. There are probably a handful of times I've seen the same movie in theaters twice, but I saw Black Panther three times opening weekend alone. I don't want to force my goals to a theme too much, but I'd really like to have a Black Panther themed challenge this time around. It's weird how some celebrity deaths hit you. He seemed like such a good guy. It's insane the kind of action movies he was shooting while sick. And he was consistently in these really impactful roles. I'm still figuring out what the details of my challenge are. I'll update this post as I figure them out. I need to finish my Fulbright application for sure. I'll keep running (though this might be the last challenge where I can do it consistently, up here in the UP). I'm probably going back to calorie counting for a bit. I'll start doing bodyweight-based strength-training again. I'll see if I can build a meditation habit.

I spent this challenge visiting my parents for three weeks, and then they came to visit me for two weeks. I think between moving, starting a new job, and balancing time with my parents, even this trimmed down list of quests was still pretty tough. Mongolian I feel really good about the academic contact I made. For my long term goals, that was the most important quest this challenge. But I barely made any headway on my statement of grant purpose. I have a very rough draft, but it needs a lot of polishing. I did the minimum to keep up with lessons, but I didn't build the good study habit I wanted to. I think C-? Diet This went fine. The intent was to cut myself some slack so that I could eat socially with my parents, but I did a little unnecessary snacking. Still, it wasn't terrible. My weight loss wasn't as good as it has been, but I still shed a few pounds. I'd call this a B-. Running My goal for the first 3 weeks was more running than I normally do, and I succeeded at it. My goal for week 4 was average, and I succeeded at it. I never even made a goal for week 5, but I still went for a couple short runs. If I had made one, it probably would have been 9 miles (I did 6). So overall, this is still more running than I've done for any of the other challenges. I think I deserve an A here. In my mind, there was sort of an implied quest this challenge of cutting back on other things so that I could spend more quality time with my parents, and I think that's been a huge success. So maybe I deserve another A.

Looking forward to the week 4 update!

Oooo, respect. I keep a spreadsheet that automatically puts it on a line chart, with a best fit line to project when I'll hit my goal, but the rolling 7-day average and min/max is a nice touch. Classy. I definitely don't think daily weigh-ins are inherently bad. For me, I'm just noticing a subtle shift from, "I'm not going to eat these cookies because I want to be healthier" to "I'm not going to eat these cookies because I want to see a slightly smaller number on my scale tomorrow morning." Obviously there's some conceptual overlap. I'm not sure if I can put my finger on what the difference is, but I think I was happier when my thinking felt more like the first one and a little more stressed as it gets more like the second one.

Update! Mongolian Pretty productive week on this front. A made a few new useful contacts and put some good work in on my application. I still need to build a flashcard habit though. I think I need to set aside a specific time for this. Maybe right before I go to bed. Diet This week, I started weighing myself daily instead of just 3 times a week. I'm not sure if this was actually a good idea. I'm traveling this weekend and then moving into a new place on Tuesday, so it's a hard time for me to build/keep up good habits. But I also feel like there's always an excuse. I want to balance not ignoring this entirely but also not worry about it too much. Running The water was just too cold to go swimming one of the days I'd hoped to, so I made up for it with an extra 3-mile run. The goal is really just to stay active, burn some calories, and get outside, so I'd call this still a win. My time is getting better too. Earlier in the year, it took a little effort to get under 10-minute miles for 3 miles. Now I'm consistently under 9 and still getting faster.

After saying that, I tried to go for a swim yesterday and couldn't bring myself to do a single lap, the lake was so cold. I might be getting back to strength training earlier than I'd planned... But I don't find it too hard to stay motivated as long as I'm seeing results. I guess that part can be fun.

Thanks for the advice you two! I do some strength-training too. I've been on a minor hiatus, but I'll get back to it soon. I think the main advantage of swimming is just that it's fun, so it's easier to get myself to do it. What I'm realizing is that for me, the general rule with working out is that anything I do outside is better than anything I do inside. I haven't found a way to make strength-training fun yet. That said, it's at least pretty bearable if I do it while watching a show.

Oh nice! I actually think that might be the hardest part - not letting one slip up lead to a series of slip ups which then leads to giving up. Major kudos!

How goes the battle, Bixby?

I've gotten into running this year. I think I've mostly gotten pretty good at reading when my body needs a break, adding in some rest days or dialing down the intensity. But sometimes when I'm trying to let my joints rest, I otherwise feel really good and have high energy. I miss getting outside and getting tired. Is there any reason not to swim on those days? Is there a reason that swimming a lot would prevent a day from being a "rest" day, for the purposes of running?

Thanks so much! I figured out what my "running" goal will be for this week. I did three on Sunday and another three today. I figure I'll do another three on Thursday. Yesterday I swam in Lake Superior for a quarter mile. It was a little chilly, but it felt great. I'll do at least a quarter mile tomorrow as well as either Friday or Saturday (likely whichever day looks warmer), trying to reach at least one mile total. I love the idea of swimming on rest days from running. 1. It lets me keep working on cardio while resting my joints, and 2. It's just super fun swimming in a lake. I got a new scale, and it has me down almost three pounds from my weigh-in on Saturday and almost 3.5 pounds down from last week's average weight. Previously, the most I'd ever lost in a week is 2.2 (I shoot for 1 to 1.5). The old scale is at my parents', so I can't compare weights, unfortunately, but I think the natural assumption would be that the difference is largely in the scales and not in my weight. Just to be safe, I want to think it through. 1. In the past when I've stalled (or even gained a little), I've suspected that it might just be because I caught myself at heavier moments in my natural weight fluctuation. I try to avoid this by averaging across 3 or 4 weigh-ins throughout the week, always weighing in the morning before eating, but I still think some natural fluctuation is unavoidable. Sort of confirming my theory about the stall being due to "unlucky" weigh-ins, I tend to "lose" a lot of weight the following week (including the time I lost 2.2). So I was semi-expecting a decent weight loss this week. 2. While I haven't been tracking calories, I'm pretty confident I've been way lower than usual (especially on Sunday, when I traveled). So I was expecting this weigh-in to be low for that reason as well. 3. While I've been burning as many or more calories as usual from running, I've been pretty light on the strength training, so I suspect I've lost a little ground, muscle-wise. Though I imagine this can't count for much over just a week. For now, I think the plan is to react as though I had lost too much weight and err on the side of eating a little more, to make sure I don't lose too much muscle mass.

Ironically, I think the pandemic has made me healthier. I started working out because I didn't know what else to do with myself.

I know I'm late to this, but kudos for getting back on the wagon! It's so easy to come up with excuses, so good for you for overcoming them!

Best of luck! I hope things start turning around soon! Counting calories can be a pain, but if you keep gaining weight, maybe try it just for a few days, to get a better sense of how much you're eating? It was instrumental in me starting to lose weight. For a while I was eating healthy things; I was just eating too much of them. But I also kind of feel like fitness is one of those things where everyone needs to find their own path. Whatever you experiment with, I wish you the best!

Thanks! It had been awhile since I'd done any language learning, so I've been finding it really fun to get back into it. Progress is definitely slow, but it's also steady, which I feel good about. If anyone is considering language-learning, I highly recommend checking out iTalki. I feel like I need to plug them at least once each challenge. I get a one-on-one hour lesson online with a native Mongolian speaker (who also speaks fluent English) for about $10, which feels like an absolute steal to me. I've been at my parents' place since almost the beginning of the month, though I leave today. I had been mentally preparing for weight loss to stall the whole visit, as I eat more shared meals with them, so I'm pretty excited to have lost weight at all.

When does it start?

Respect for the posting streak. I somehow managed to post more frequently during my first challenge, but these last couple, I'm struggling a little to get in one a week. Best of luck!

Update Mongolian I succeeded at quest 2, to get a solid academic contact who can write a letter of affiliation for me! I initially wrote the head of the Psychology Department at the university I'm hoping will host me. I tried a few different email addresses I found for them. When I didn't hear back after three weeks, I panicked a little and emailed some other professors in the department. Three of them wrote back, and they all seem really interested in helping! Two of them even mentioned other contacts who might be able to help. I'm feeling so much better about my application now. I didn't do as much flashcard works as I wanted to, but: 1. I made a new Mongolian friend online that I've been writing to in Mongolian. 2. I started listening to Mongolian music, to get my ear used to hearing the language. 3. I've been responding to two of the three Mongolian contacts in Mongolian (with lots of help from Google Translate and my tutor). The third one wrote back in English, so I wrote to him in English. 4. I read a chapter of my textbook. If I can keep up this momentum and finish polishing my Statement of Grant Purpose, I'm going to feel really good. Diet My weight loss stalled this week, but I'm not too worried. It seems to be the pattern than I lose weight for a week or two or three and then stall for a week. If I don't lose weight next week, I'll reassess. Running I ran 5 miles three times this week, plus an extra 1-mile run to check my pace at that distance. So that's one running quest accomplished! I head up to the UP of Michigan tomorrow. I'll assess then what goal two will be.

How goes the battle?