SkindianaBones

There is a lot packed in here friend. For all of it, I am proud of you. Being able to be vulnerable and face things as they are is tough, and you are doing just that with the discussions you are having and the decisions you are making. I have been in much the same place before with the problems surrounding both dopamine and alcohol, and recognizing them was hugely important to putting me on a journey to better myself. I hope that this does that for you as well. As for your skincare routine, your skin will thank you for replacing alcohol with water. Glad to see I'm not the only one who wears sunscreen everyday 😄

Jokes aside, enjoy your birthday! It seems you are doing all the important things to keep feeling good (because youth can mask poor physical health and habits at times but not for long). Stay Social - ✔️ Move - ✔️ Eat not takeout all the time - ✔️ You'll be a lot better off at the end of this decade than most when they hit 50 sir! Hats off to you.

Through reading this I'm glad to hear that this community has been helpful in pushing you forward. Despite you being uhhh... way bigger than me it looks like we have pretty similar goals for our challenges! Standing desk team! Would you mind sharing what you are doing for your skill based mobility, stretching, core, and low impact movement stuff? It would likely be very useful for me to see what others are working on. This place is badass!!! Maybe if I'm ever in Germany. Might have to recommend to a friend in country atm.

Just wanted to drop in and say that I'm subbed. I am taking some time for myself tonight as I worked a bit late and want to be fresh in the AM, when I can take some coffee time and read your posts. Best of luck mate!

Well there could not be a better time for a new challenge week 0 for this guy. If you followed my last challenge you likely know that I had an injury (pulled my back) and have been working on recovering from that. These things happen, and it's time to go ahead and work on taking the next step forward, rather than letting a set back completely derail my fitness journey. As you'll notice, this challenge is tagged Ranger along with Warrior. That is because I my injury has pointed out to me that it isn't just about how much weight I can lift - but how my all around whole health is. While my primary weapon to this is and will continue to be a barbell, it's time to start really taking mobilizing, stabilizing, and being all around fit and functional very seriously. But at the same time, this isn't a CrossFit class so don't think I'm turning into a WODder (no hate; just not my thing. Based on how I felt this morning during my mobility drills, I've noticed a few things: I am feeling a lot better. I should be back to lifting barbells next week Mobility takes a ton of focus and effort, especially doing it daily. No more "going through the motions". I am going to spend significant time doing mobility and stability drills for my hips, shoulders, and knees as a warmup or daily activity. Because of #2, I am going to have to wake up earlier and likely change to a 4 day U/L lifting schedule in order to reduce the amount of time I spend on any given day in the gym, while still accomplishing my tasks I need to learn to do my own programming In accordance with #4, I will be making some edits to this post later in the day after finishing up some projects at work and spending some time understanding my own programming needs. It's clear that cookie cutter programs aren't going to cut it given my needs, but I don't exactly have the margin to work with a Personal Trainer at the moment. So please STAY TUNED there will be more to come this evening. I've also learned that I need to focus on action - specifically those I can take right now. So while I don't have a timeline lets say that the "finish line" for this challenge is to be fully healthy and lifting properly. To be more specific about what this means, it means that I can Squat, Sumo DL, Bench, and OHP with full ROM and no pain. These are pretty big goals, and being where I am now is humbling. However, I know there are steps I can take right now to get there. Mobilize and staying active I am pursuing the following as a daily routine, using only my bodyweight, and once I am able to lift again it shall remain as my warmup. Notice that it is daily unlike before. 20-25 minute walking general warm up 5 x 90* hip stretches on each side 15 breaths x ring squat 10 x Cossack Squat on each side (Emphasis on full control in ROM) 3 x 8 box step offs each side (These are tough!) 2 x 8 single leg RDL 2 x 8 Bulgarian Split Squats 3 x 10 Band Over and Backs (shoulders) 3 x 10 Banded Face Pulls Additionally I am spending about 10 minutes or so a night on a rolling and mashing routine that hits: Feet Calves Hamstrings Glutes Pecs Optimize my work set up for mobility What is ergonomics anyway? Hell if I know.... So screw the ergonomic chair (actually I'll keep the chair). I am searching the interwebs far and wide for a suitable standing desk. Sitting is definitely exacerbating my hip and back issues - and a standing desk is a good start. I will also be acquiring monitor arms, so that way I am in a more neutral head position as I look at my screen. Finally I am going to buy a foam roller than I can use to do things like thorasaic extensions in between long bouts of working, on my feet or not. Research and Understand Programming Who knows, maybe all I need is a good beginner BB routine in addition to the hip exercises I'm working on. I'm going to spend time each evening and morning (no less than 15 minutes but no more than an hour total in a day) reading about programming. I guess I should probably acquire that copy of Starting Strength I always wanted. Any sort of recommendations here (including to content on this sight!) is greatly appreciated. Until then:

Agreed. It is cool to say you squat or deadlift 405 but what good does that do you. Thanks! I am following this plan but I have made my hip mobility plan a bit more dynamic where I am focusing on ROM and stability, and once I feel fully healed, then strength. While not a CrossFitter I got the plan for my hips from WodPrep. As a note I am currently doing the ROM and bodyweight versions of the stability exercises daily. While I have had a few moments of pain after some poor posture yesterday, my back feels mostly well. I am hoping this week to continue with the ROM and stability, along with upper strength, and hope to be fully healed by next week. At this time I will add the hip strength exercises, and eventually go back to the barbell for lower. https://wodprep.com/blog/hip-mobility-exercises/ Additionally, I am starting to realize my hip mobility problems go back further than I realized. Sitting for work has exacerbated them (standing desk here I come), but I definitely had some hip mobility and stability issues in the past when working jobs where I was on my feet as well, I just didn't realize it was the hips at the time. The main reason I did the deadlift and leg curl version of this program is that I have trouble with Front Squats and RDLs. While I've done DB RDL's, doing them with a BB always caused problems. I am now realizing that this is likely due to a lack of strength and stability at the hip, which is where the hinge originates from. While I hate constantly tweaking, I think that perhaps focusing on form at lower weights on both front squat and RDL may be a smart way to move forward as well.

My apologies 😅 Do it!!! It has been very good for my mental health. Thank the lord someone agrees with me.

What a difference from telling everyone you hurt your back and hearing "deadlifts bad" 40 times. Deadlifts aren't bad, unless you don't do them properly - which I'll admit I wasn't, because I was ignoring fundamental hip mobility and strength. When do you think you will return to them? Also, I found a good set of hip mobility drills that I really like. I walked for 25 minutes and then did them this morning and they really made a difference. My plan is to likely do them daily, and then on "lower" focused days to add some stability and strength drills as well so I am confident I can properly lift the weight on both Squats and Deadlifts.

Best of luck as you return to the gym brother! Make sure to continue to mobilize and strengthen those core areas we so often forget.

First - thanks to both of you, and everyone else for the support and feedback. It is really appreciated at the moment. As for my back, that is the plan. I realized in some discussions with a trainer that I have an anterior pelvic tilt, which is likely the result of immobile and weak hip flexors and psoas muscles. This isn't surprising to me, because at the moment I work in a field where I sit, a lot. He recommended that I work on strength and mobility of those two things with some exercises and with a DIY "pso-rite", and then focus on hinging at the hips while bracing by working on bodyweight single leg RDL's. I like the idea and that is my plan going into next week, as my back feels much better at the moment. As for Sumo Deadlifts specifically, my hope is that remedying my hip and psoas problems and understanding bracing and hinging will prevent future hangups. However, it is my understanding that the sumo position necessarily forces your spine into a more neutral position, and places more of the weight on the quads. It is generally harder to lean forward and curl your back in this position. I am also a relatively tall individual, and this would make the bar path shorter, which would likely prevent unnecessary strain. Please correct me if I am wrong.

I guess my question is more so once I am fully healed, would Sumo Deadlifts be an option that is "safer" like I hear thrown around? My plan for current is to be out of the gym for a bit (😥) in order to fully rest my current injury and not make it worse. I am working on developing a game plan for mobility work to do prior to returning to the gym to help with the healing process, but at the same time I am looking towards when I am not out of the gym and (hopefully) am fully healed. Edit: I have developed a rough PT plan in order to get me back on my fight. It is in a similar style to these challenges, and the moment I am in right now is somewhere around the end of Week 0/Beginning of Week 1 Week 0: Rest and Recovery using cold and heat therapy Week 1: PT Exercise routine Bird Dog Bridges Hamstring Stretch Supermans Pelvic Tilts Week 1 (cont.): Low impact cardio Walking Elliptical Week 2: Non back intensive strength? Week 3-4: Return to full strength routine based on healing

I was very pleased with it. Baby steps!!!

UPDATE Physician gave me an exam and believes I pulled my back. Extremely pleased it isn't skeletal. Gave me an anti-inflamatory and told me to rest my back. In the mean time I plan on working on some hip/posterior chain mobility - I am also considering moving to Sumo Deadlifts over traditional pulls in the future. Thoughts?

Thank you for the kind words. I kind of noticed it becoming apparent last week so I did a ton of extra back mobility and yesterday morning it flared up. Going to see a doctor today. Hope is that it is a muscle strain due to bad ergonomics/bad lift/muscle imbalance that I can rest and allow to heal, and then work on my imbalances and home office ergonomics to solve. Above all do not want it to be skeletal. Will update after my visit with the physician. In the meantime I will be doing my best to keep up with others here and working on my mindset goals. First stress management call yesterday was excellent, and just what I needed at this time.

UPDATE Injured in the field. Something is more wrong with my back then I thought, and I managed to aggravate it this morning. Seeing a doctor tomorrow. Really do not want this to be a slipped disc but it isn't out of the realm of possibility given my family history.

Also yes - I love the adapt or die mentality. I like the idea and I think that maybe I can split my morning oats in two, having half before and half after. Also - excited to see your new challenge!!!

There's a lot going on here for you. Firstly, my condolences. Props to you for going to spend time with your mom and family in this time. Also a premature congratulations on the home purchase in the works! That is excellent news my friend. As for camping, have you made any more plans?

This is incredible progress now that you are in a place to sustain it going forward. Know that you are an inspiration to many on this forums who have similar aesthetic and health goals as you. Keep up the good work and I look forward to reading about your continued progress. Life is a constant battle and we must continue to fight it!

Week 2 Report Week 2 went fast y'all! I know I haven't been super active here, as I have been very busy at work as well as working at my goals. I hope to spend some of today catching up and reading other challenges so I can keep up with everyone. In the meantime - here's the rundown for this week. Workouts We went into this week with some extra rest, which was good, but we did encounter some other issues. I developed a knot in my back which I've determined to be due to the fact that I work a sedentary job where I sit all day. Some times I get so focused in I forget to get up and move around. My plan is to optimize the ergonomics of my work set up as well as buying my own roller (instead of relying on the one from my apartment complex) and place it by my desk to remind me to use it after working all day. I was able to work it out of my back mostly thanks to my lacrosse ball and some extra focus on my posterior chain in my mobility routines. As for the workouts themselves I am working my way back up after dropping the weight 15% as prescribed by the program when failing. This week I will try to break through the plateau I hit on the bench at 145 lbs. Nutrition and Recovery Our nutrition has been solid. Not perfect, but I have been hitting my calorie goals most days and continuing my intake of healthy food. My bodyweight is now up to 148 lbs. Additionally, I am planning to add to my recovery routines as can be seen above. I hope to add an after work and night time rolling routine to combat the amount of sitting I do each day. Mindset I feel like I have made huge strides here. I ran into some car issues on Friday and made little to no issue of it, other than taking action to get it fixed properly and quickly. No anger, no real strong emotions at all. Just action. I was proud of this. Week 2 stats Strength(2): 4 Endurance: 4 Conditioning: 5 Agility(3): 4 Wisdom(3): 4

Debrief 06/04 Workouts Despite some tiredness and some slight lower back tightness (more on that later) I got in a solid workout. Looking forward to resting up this weekend 3x5 Squat @ 175 lbs 3x5 Bench @ 140 lbs 3x8 Pendlay Rows @ 105 lbs BW: 147.9 lbs Nutrition and Recovery Yesterday was a hectic day, so my nutrition was ok but not nearly as good as I wanted it to be. Taking a step back today to visit the grocery store which I am hoping will help immensely in this area. 3,107 calories and 198g of protein (-1 strength). In addition, I believe I have a knot in my lower back, on the left side, which will certainly speed up the need for me to add a night time mobility routine before bed. I spent some additional time to my mobility routine this morning on working it out of my back, which has helped some. The plan is to continue to roll it with the roller and the lacrosse ball tonight and tomorrow morning and evening and hope that we are feeling better by Monday. Stay tuned.... Minsdset So yesterday I had a hectic day due to some vehicle issues. Despite that, I kept my cool and had it fixed promptly, well, and for a good price to boot. I am happy with how this went. In addition I have continued in my meditation and readings, and am starting my stress management program soon as well. I intend on prepping for that today by spending some time reading the program and writing out some of the prompts prior to actually working through the program with the advisor. Despite being all over the place and having some issues with my body and vehicle, we are ok and doing well. Life comes at you hard but it is an exciting adventure, and I continue to look forward to the future.

So I uhhh.... Missed a day. Shame on me. However, we get back on the logging train - thankfully I did all of my tracking so I can still update here. Debrief 06/02 and 06/03 Workouts Solid workout for this morning, although I am still feeling weaker than I would like. Think I am going to test eating some carbs (banana or oats or the like) prior to lifting in the mornings, because I am currently lifting fasted and starting to think that isn't going to cut it. 3x5 Deadlift @ 220 lbs 3x5 OHP @ 80 lbs 1x8 Pull-Ups 1x7 Pull-Ups 1x6 Pull -Ups 20 incline sprints at speed 9.5 (+1 conditioning) BW: 148.0 lbs (+1 strength) Nutrition and Recovery So my nutrition and recovery have been good but I need to step up my game. I need to work on getting better sleep, and I need to get a better evening routine going. I currently read in the evening but I have a habit of falling asleep on the couch. I want to design a mobility routine that I do before I head to the bedroom to separate the two times, so I am not waking up on the couch in the middle of the night and feeling sore. W: 3,220 calories, 192g of protein T: 3,204 calories and 191g of protein T: Both mobility routines (+2 agility) Since I have been gaining weight I am ok with the calorie numbers for now. Will up as necessary Mindset This is going much better as I work to take control of everything in my life. I am glad I have started down this path. However, I still get a bit angry in traffic, so we could work on that.... ^ Live representation of me in traffic (As Vader.... duh)

Debrief 06/01 Cannot believe it is already June! Hope everyone had a great start to their short week. I found out that my base plate on my razor was upside down, so smooth shaves here I come (hopefully)! Here is my update Workouts Rest up team! Nutrition and Recovery 3,208 calories and 192g of protein (+1 strength)! Also hit both of my mobility routines which was great (+2 agility). Really doing well here. My sleep was good as well, woke up early and felt awake with no grogginess. Mindset I meditated and read, but did not get a chance to delve into the scripture. On the bright side, I did sign up for a stress management program offered to me as a benefit, which I think is a good step in the right direction in working on controlling what I can control. Stats Strength(2): 3 Endurance: 4 Conditioning: 4 Agility(2): 8 Wisdom(3): 4

Debrief 05/31 I hope all had a relaxing and enjoyable memorial day, and took even just a moment to remember the true meaning of the holiday. Yesterday saw me back in the gym with a new zeal, and then spending a nice day by the pool, which is not typically something I get the opportunity to do. I hit the sack at 9 sharp, which was a good way to end the day. Workouts It felt good to be back completely rested. Feeling strong on my bench and ready to break through that plateau come next week. Squat 3x5 @ 175 lbs Bench 3x5 @ 140 lbs Pendlay Rows 3x8 @ 105 lbs 20 Minutes Incline Treadmill (+1 endurance) BW: 147.6 (+1 strength) Nutrition and Recovery This is where some of my focus needs to go, given that I want to be able to do more than 5-6 weeks without a deload. I got a solid bit of sleep last night using my iPhone's sleep schedule functionality, which I really like. Had a strong showing nutritionally with 3,338 calories and 217g of protein, along with some added vegetables. (+1 strength) Mindset Here is another place that will require my upmost focus. I want to work on not only just doing these things as part of my daily routine (which is still important) but I want to actually turn them into a mindset I extrapolate out into the rest of my life. Reading Atlas together with my meditation practice is inspiring me to put ultimate focus on those things I can control, rather than those I can't. If I can accomplish this in daily practice, I believe it will lead to a much happier and more fruitful life. +3 wisdom for going through my mindset routine. Stats Strength(2): 2 Endurance: 4 Conditioning: 4 Agility(2): 6 Wisdom(3): 4

Silly me! I forgot yesterday was Sunday due to the holiday. A happy memorial day to all. Don't forget the reason we have this day. This week was good, but not great. And we are shooting for great here folks! The biggest thing is mindset, and learning to take things as the come. Because oh boy will they come all right. Workouts Most of this week was characterized by tiredness followed by a much needed deload. This week we are back at it and ready to roll, thanks to some extra rest and extra calories. Nutrition and Recovery Slow and steady wins the race, as they say. I have been continuing to check off my boxes each day and hit my calorie and protein goals. My goal for this week outside of my initial ones is to get my sleep schedule back on track, so that I am truly getting optimal recovery. Mindset This week our focus was consistency. And we certainly got it and are moving in the right direction. Upcoming our goal is control. IE. controlling what I can control, and letting go of what I cannot. I am the arbiter of my destiny. Stats Strength(2): 0 Endurance: 3 Conditioning: 4 Agility(2): 6 Wisdom(3): 1