MadScientist

Health and Fitness Observer the Whole 30 protocol during the days of Lent. +2 STA, +2 CON, +1 CHR Well Lent is not over, but I nailed the diet, so A on this. For those who are curious, I started at 182.0lb with a 38.2" max waist and ended at 166.8lb with a 35.5" waist. I lost a bit over 15lbs and 2.7" at the navel. WOOT! Note that this sort of weight loss is actually a bit too fast for long term health. I need to eat more! (+2 STA, +2 CON, +1 CHR) I will practice handstands for two minutes each day. +2 DEX, +2 STA I ended up mixing handstand and headstand, and did not start until late, but did manage a full headstand. Handstand is still in work. What I really want is the go from the headstand to the handstand. Grade C (+1 DEX, +1 STA) I will add another day of pullups/pushups to my current weekly high intensity weight lifting routine. +2 STR This ended up kind of down. I did practice diligently, but ended up getting a repetitive stress injury that forced me to back out the last week. I have learned, once again, that I am already pretty much pushing myself to the limit on exercise. Grade B (+1.5 STR) Personal Growth I will practice music at least five hours a week. split however it happens to fit. +2 WIS, +2 CHR I did not manage to get this done. I practiced frequently, but not long enough. Life gets in the way, but I still had fun. Grade C (+1 WIS, +1 CHR)All in all, not too bad. I accomplished my primary goal, which was to get my diet under control. Now I just have to keep it that way.

Thanks Eirlys and Evenewbie for the words of encouragement! I appreciated it. The challenge is over and it is time to take stock: Health and Fitness Observer the Whole 30 protocol during the days of Lent. +2 STA, +2 CON, +1 CHR Well Lent is not over, but I nailed the diet, so A on this. For those who are curious, I started at 182.0lb with a 38.2" max waist and ended at 166.8lb with a 35.5" waist. I lost a bit over 15lbs and 2.7" at the navel. WOOT! (+2 STA, +2 CON, +1 CHR) I will practice handstands for two minutes each day. +2 DEX, +2 STA I ended up mixing handstand and headstand, and did not start until late, but did manage a full headstand. Handstand is still in work. What I really want is the go from the headstand to the handstand. Grade C (+1 DEX, +1 STR) I will add another day of pullups/pushups to my current weekly high intensity weight lifting routine. +2 STR This ended up kind of down. I did practice diligently, but ended up getting a repetitive stress injury that forced me to back out the last week. I have learned, once again, that I am already pretty much pushing myself to the limit on exercise. Grade B (+1.5 STR) Personal Growth I will practice music at least five hours a week. split however it happens to fit. +2 WIS, +2 CHR I did not manage to get this done. I practiced frequently, but not long enough. Life gets in the way, but I still had fun. Grade C (+1 WIS, +1 CHR)All in all, not too bad. I accomplished my primary goal, which was to get my diet under control. Now I just have to keep it that way.

I managed to start the last week well. I finally got a full yoga headstand. I did not hold it very long, but I got out of it in a controlled fashion. Woot! One more week! Finish strong!

Keep going! One more week... So far, so good. Finish strong!

One week to go. Time to finish strong. I started well last night when I finally managed to go to a full yoga headstand. I only held it a second or so, but I got there and out of it in a controlled manner! I will work on timing this week. Diet is still spot on. I am still enjoying playing with new recipes. Whole 30 is definitely on track. I believe I have lost an inch or two and somewhere in the five to ten pounds range. I will measure myself on Sunday at the end of the challenge, although I will stay on the protocol until Easter. My official 30 days comes to an end this Friday, so I may start introducing low-carb, non-primal elements (such as cheese) into my diet at that time to see what, if any, of them I am allergic to. To be honest, my psoriasis has not been reduced by this diet, only my waistline. I will take it, though, because my reaction to spring pollens this year has been very mild. I suspect a correlation, but have no proof . I am still getting in pushups and pullups with my son, but he has bailed on the headstand practice. Oh well, I will take anything at this point. I have not been as diligent in my music as I would like. I wanted to do recording last night, and ended up talking with my daughter for a long time instead. She just bought a mandolin about three months ago, so we ended up trading tips and playing together over Skype. It was a good trade, but I am not getting my recording done. Finish strong...

It has been a relatively good few days. I have nailed my diet, which is my primary concern, and continue to feel good about it. I still have problems every time I open the pantry and see the bucket of M&Ms and chocolate chip cookies, but have not cracked yet. I am continuing handstand and pushup/pullup practice with my son. A couple of days ago, I managed to get into a modified headstand (legs not extended, but on my head) for about two seconds, then overbalanced backwards. Getting there! The rollover really made me dizzy, so I may practice that to reduce my sensitivity to the motion. Music practice has been lower than I would have liked due to a very busy schedule. I have managed to get more planning done for the rosary recording, but I need to get actual recording done. Hopefully this weekend. A couple of nights ago, I finally got around the pulling out my parents' S-VHS VCR, a 1989 JVC model, and looking at it to fix it. Most likely cause is dead electrolytic capacitors in the power supply. I disassembled the device, determined what needed to be replaced, and ordered them. If I am lucky, they will show up Saturday, so I can attempt the fix this weekend. If not, it will be Monday. I gave my parents this VCR after getting it on EBay and fixing it (total cost $25) about eight years ago. Hopefully I can revive it. It is a nice VCR that should last them a good long time.

It's the start of week five, and I managed to pretty much make all my goals last week. To the stars!

It is the start of week five. Time to take stock. Whole 30 is going well. I have not cracked yet and found a bunch of new recipes. Neither have I managed to get my family to at least hide the chocolate chip cookies. But so far, I have not eaten any. And I have lost at least an inch on my waist, maybe more. The Whole 30 protocol demands no measuring or weighing, so I do not know specifics. I will do a weigh and measure at the end of the six weeks to report here, but I will be going until Easter with the protocol. I finally got back to handstand practice last week, and did it all week. I am combining it with almost daily pushup / pullups. I recruited my son to do pullups, pushups, and handstands with me every day but weekends. We started with one on day one, two on day two, etc. Two days off on weekends to recover. This week we will start with two on day one... I have not had as much time as I would like to practice, but have managed about 75% this week. I got a bunch of transcription from the original neum notation to modern notation done, but was not satisfied with the result. It sounded authentic, but did not sound flowing enough for my purpose. I decided to use Al Cofrin's versions, but will still need to transpose them so I can use the low A on my son's marimba for accompaniment.All in all, I have pretty much managed all goals this week! Not often I get to say that .

Hi DogLackey! I hope you are having lots of fun and rocking your challege! Go for it!

HI Q-Bert! I hope your green odyssey survived St. Patrick's day! Good luck on your progress.

Howdy Eirlys! I hope you are out having a good time and doing awesome things, as usual. Good luck on your progress!

It's been a good couple of days, and I actually managed to work on all my goals, for once. I started doing the increasing sequence of pushups / pullups with my son. We added in handstand practice as well, hitting two of my goals. I told him it was Jedi Knight training and got him on board. I also started pushup and pullup counts at 1 to break him in easy. We will see if I can keep him (and me ) on it over the next couple of months. Diet has been going very well. I am discovering new recipes and enjoying cooking more than I have in a long time. The "Best chicken you will ever eat" recipe in Well Fed is indeed well named (assuming you like spicy food). I grilled some last night and paired it with a mandarin orange/pecan/lettuce salad and was in heaven. Music is also looking good. I have been practicing for my nursing home Irish set gig this weekend and transposing some of the Cantigas to the key I want them in. I am on a roll and plan to stay there...

I think, in virtually every one of my challenges, one of my goals has been totally missed, while I nailed the rest. You would think I would get the message and just do three goals, not four, but I keep trying. It's still a win to get three out of four. I figure if I shoot for the stars and get to the moon, I am good. If I shoot for the moon and don't make it, I just burn up on reentry .

I spent most of the weekend having fun with friends and family. Most of Saturday morning was spent playing the invasion of San Francisco scenario of the Kickstarter edition of Ogre. We had a good time, but think the scenario may be a bit unbalanced. I defended and it was just too easy to win. I would like to try it from the other side before passing judgement, however. For my challenge, I spent time practicing Cantigas and some time cleaning up the audio portion to remove background noice and fix mistakes. It is coming along. My eating has been spot on. I even managed to find stuff at two restaraunts that I could eat without blowing the Whole 30. It seems to be working, as well. I was able to pull my belt in a notch this morning! I think I will change my pushup/pullup goal to take Steve's challenge. I will start at one in each today (although I can do quite a few more) and ramp at one per day until I get to 60 or my joints give out. I am starting at one to condition my joints. I will add the headstand exercises to the same routine, so I will remember them and thus solve the remembering issue. Ad astra per aspera!

Welcome! And thanks! At the start of week 4, I have been doing pretty well. When I got up this morning, I had to tighten my belt one more notch, so something is going right! Still need to get going on headstands. I am thinking of taking Steve up on his pushup/pullup challenge, since it aligns pretty well with my long-term goals.

It has been a fairly good two days. Since it is Friday in Lent, I am skipping lunch to get some intermittent fasting in. The Whole 30 diet is going well, although I did have a minor crisis yesterday when I got up and went to the fridge to get my Whole 30 homemade sausage and found my son had eaten it instead of the normal sausage I had cooked for him. I ate some spiced ground beef with some strawberries for breakfast, instead. Headstands are still my weak point. I keep forgetting them. I think I will tell my sons to hold me accountable. I am sure they will take great delight in it. I may be able to get them to join me . I did get my Thursday morning high intensity weight workout in. I missed it last week due to fasting, and it felt good to really push myself. My music project is coming along. We recorded the rosary last night, so it is now time to add the music. As mentioned earlier, I have it picked out, I just need to record it. My challenge now is to get as much out of my son before he goes back to college as I can. I can do simple drum and marimba stuff, but he is the master. I also got my usual every-other-Thursday morning music group practice in yesterday. We are doing well on our Irish themed set for our next gig in about a week.

Great! I had the same sort of experience when I first went low-carb, many moons ago. There is nothing like feeling good and having energy. Keep up the good work. Don't stress out about missing one goal when you are hitting the others. Concentrate on what matters now and get the rest later (full disclosure, I usually totally miss one of my goals, then get it later).

Not true. While it is true that Slow Burn does not include many references, Body by Science is full of them. This is to be expected, as the author of Slow Burn is an exercise professional, while the authors of Body by Science are hard-core scientists and back their assertions with studies and data. And Body by Science advocates 12 minutes of exercise per week to gain strength. And when you get close to your genetic maximum, they advocate every other week. In contrast, Slow Burn advocates two sessions per week for about 30 minutes each. This form of weight training has been around since the 70s, when it was introduced by Arthur Jones, the founder of Nautilus. It has since been studied and refined, although it is clear we still don't know everything. As I mentioned earlier, I have discussed this with the weight training staff at the gym I frequent, and their take is that it is THE most effective way to gain and maintain strength, but they don't teach it because most people don't have the discipline to stick with it. Most people give up after a few months because it is hard, which, of course, is the point. I love it because it does not take long and it keeps me strong. Thus, I have more time for other things. And there is a huge difference between athletic performance and strength. That difference is skill. To build skill takes time. Anyone who is depending upon their body for their living is working at a skill. The more you do a skill, the more efficient and automatic it becomes. The strength is secondary, although very necessary, in some cases. Thus, daily practice is necessary to keep skill high. However, due to lack of recovery time, this can negatively impact strength. This topic, too, is covered in Body by Science. However, since this discussion was about strength, I did not bring this up earlier. I think we are more or less on the same page, just arguing from different directions. Give Body by Science a read; you won't regret it.

It's good to hear you are making excellent progress. We would much rather you were out being awesome than posting, although then we don't hear about it I can sympathize with the computer issue. I am a professional programmer, and the last thing I want to do when I get home is install OSes and muck around with configuration settings. So it gets put off until the weekend. Do your relatives expect you to do computer support too? At least you get some real hardware time, as well, though. At times, there is nothing like a power drill or saw to banish the computer blues.

Hello Q-Bert, how are things going. I hope your journey has been good so far! Check in and let us cheer you on!

Good to see you back from vacation. Sorry it ended in illness . At least you are back and having fun. Keep doing that...

I am pretty much back on track, except for the handstands. I am in day 7 of the Whole42 and it is going well. Being forced to look up a bunch of new recipes which do not use dairy has resulted in some pretty nice meals. I would definitely recommend Well Fed for those of you looking for an excellent primal cookbook. My only caveat is that most of the food is pretty spicy, but I like it that way. My music practice has been a bit off due to other time pressures, but I am still managing to squeeze things in. I have determined my first set of five Cantigas for the first rosary setting. I need to get it out the door quick so my parents can enjoy it during Lent. It is spring break, but I only have one free night of it left to get my son involved before he goes back to school. And I still have to finish one more paper... I did manage to squeeze in another pushup and pullup session earlier this week, so on track there.

For all of those knocking a low-rep, high-intensity weight workout - did you try it or just write it off? I am a firm believer in experimenting on yourself. I tried multiple workouts per week and the traditional multiple sets / multiple reps weight workouts. I definitely got stronger, but after doing that, I tried the low-rep, high-intesity methods and nearly doubled my strength. It is very easy to scoff at a method, but hard to justify yourself if you don't try it. In my personal experimentation, I found Body by Science to be spot on, and the professional weight trainers at my gym agree with me. And yes, I am middle-aged, but definitely not overweight (which is governed by diet, anyway - and yes, I have personally proved that, as well). I am also very aware that people are different. That is a major topic of discussion in Body by Science. If you want to pump iron for hours a week, and it works for you, GO FOR IT! I don't, and it does NOT work for me, so I looked for an alternative and found it. As mentioned recently at Mark's Daily Apple, the best exercise for you is the one you will do.

Hard to believe it has been a week since I posted last. Things have been busy. I found out Tuesday last week that a paper I had submitted to a conference, which occurred the first three days of this week, had been accepted. Somehow, I was not notified. Unfortunately, I was then currently working on three other papers for two other conferences (this is NOT normal, I usually attend a couple conferences per year and usually have one paper, at most, to work on at any given time). So I got it done and presented the paper last Tuesday. It went quite well. I have also finished one other paper, have one 50% done and one 80% done. These are all due a week from now, so I should make it. Enough excuses, how did I do? I am on day 3 of the Whole 30 and doing well. It helped that Wednesday was Ash Wednesday, a day of fast. Interestingly, I did not eat anything until supper and did not get hungry until about 3PM. I might be better off metabolically than I thought. I am still having allergy issues due to it being spring, but the Whole 30 protocol should help that. So far so good there. Since this is my primary concern, I feel good about this. I have not done any handstand practice and missed my normal workouts due to the conference and fasting (I do not recommend a high intensity weight workout after a 24 hour fast - tried it once, will not do it again). I should be able to pick this up again now, but get an F for last week. Music has not been too bad, but due to conference and paper writing, I was not able to practice a couple of nights. I get a C here. On the plus side, one of the websites I knew about, which hosts copies of the Cantigas de Santa Maria, has greatly expanded and is now an awesome resource. If you are interested in ancient music, you can find it here. Bring your geek. The music is all reproduced in 13th century notation. There are explanations of how to read it and pronunciation guides for the archaic language used, as well. Just what I needed!

Great set of goals, as usual. I noticed we are probably working on the same Coursera Android course. I hope you have better luck than I. I was forced to quit doing the homework due to time constraints from both work and home. My sister-in-law was also taking the course (along with 160,000 other people ) so it is certainly a popular course! I hope you have a great vacation and look forward to your future adventures.