Kwesadilo solidifies his habits

[kwesadilo]

My last challenge worked out well, and my goals seem like useful ones, so I'm basically just doing the same thing again.

 

Goals

• Squat form: My goal is again to get to the point where I can do a heavy squat set and be confident that the bar will stay over my mid-foot. Last challenge, I got the point where it's possible, but it still doesn't happen every time.
• Yoga: I still want to do 2 yoga sessions every week. I'm playing with the idea of changing up my stretching routine so that all of my regular stretching takes places at the end of my workouts, after I'm already warmed up. That seems like it would save time, but I don't know how long I actually have to spend stretching to observe an increase in flexibility.
• Sleep: I want to get to bed by 11:30 pm at least 5 days every week. No rolling over to next week.
• SICP: I want to spend at least 30 minutes working through Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs on two different days each week. No rolling over. Last challenge, I had separate, 30-minute goals for Tuesday or Thursday and Saturday or Sunday. I'm not sure whether that helped me stay on track or just got in my way. I can anticipate one weekend during this challenge during which it is very unlikely that I will have any time to program, so I will remove that restriction this time, and we'll see what happens.

[Laghail]

Good job working on consistency man. Following!

[kwesadilo]

Week 1 update

• Squats: My front squat works reps last Wednesday were 14/15 over my feet with 2 over my mid-foot or the middle of my shoelaces. I'm up to 145 now, and I can feel that I am leaning forward at the bottom, which is putting a lot of pressure on my wrists. I will probably stay at this weight until I get a little more stable.
  
  On Friday, 5/15 of my work reps for back squat were over my mid-foot, and the other 10 were over the middle of my shoe laces. That was at 305.
  
  Today, I squatted 345x5 for the first time but failed on rep 5 of set 2. However, that failed rep was over my mid-foot, making 4/10 of my work reps over my mid-foot and another 5/10 over the middle of my laces. My back-off sets were consistently over my mid-foot or the middle of my laces, too. This is starting to come together.
• Yoga: Did a full-length session on Saturday and a perfunctory session on Sunday.
• Sleep: Got Monday through Thursday and Saturday, which is 5. On Sunday, I was lazy all day and then stayed up super late, because I hadn't gotten done the things I needed to do for Monday. Not a good look.
• SICP: Did about 45 minutes on Tuesday but didn't do any work on other days.

[kwesadilo]

Week 2 update

• Squats: Last Wednesday, 9/13 of my front squat work reps were over my feet, but none were over my mid-foot. I started at 145 and then backed down to 135 after the bar started to slip out of my hands. I think I need to get my torso more vertical before I can increase the weight. I went out of town on Friday and didn't lift. Today, I used a rack that I can't easily film from the side. I took video from behind, and I was able to see that my heels were coming up a little at the bottom. Focusing on keeping my knees out helped it get a little better.
• Yoga: I did short sessions on Thursday and Sunday.
• Sleep: I know I got to bed on time Tuesday through Thursday and Sunday, and I'm pretty sure I got Friday.
• SICP: Did 30 minutes on Wednesday and 30 minutes on Sunday.

I also deadlifted 355x5 for the first time today, so there's that.

[Laghail]

Congrats on the PR man.

[kwesadilo]

On 10/3/2017 at 11:02 AM, Laghail said:

Congrats on the PR man.

Thanks! Alas, it was not to be followed up this week.

[kwesadilo]

Week 3 update

• Squats: Today, I had 3/10 work reps over my mid-foot or the middle of my shoelaces. On Wednesday, I had 12/15 work reps over my feet with 1 over my mid-foot. I again didn't lift on Friday. I was going to Saturday, but then I didn't, along with a lot of other things.
• Yoga: Only did one session on Sunday. A friend wanted to meet me fairly early in the day on Saturday, and that disturbed my schedule enough that I became lazy and didn't do anything else that I had intended, including yoga.
• Sleep: Got to bed on time on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.
• SICP: Did about 45 minutes of work on Sunday but none on any other days.

[kwesadilo]

Week 4 update

• Squats: Today 4/8 of my work reps were over my mid-foot or the middle of my laces.  On Wednesday, 6/15 of my front squat reps were over my feet, even though I reduced the weight to 105. The guy next to me asked for tips on front squatting, because he had never done it before. I told him where his hands were supposed to go, and his first set had better bar path than I've  ever had.
  • I'm at about the same place I was when I started this challenge. I've learned some more stuff, but I don't think my performance has improved significantly.
• Yoga: Did full-length sessions on Friday and Saturday.
  • 7/8 isn't terrible, although some of the sessions were pretty brief.
• Sleep: Got to bed on time on Monday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.
  • That's 18/20. Some of the nights that I missed my bedtime, I missed it by a lot and didn't make up that sleep later. This is one of the more insidious costs of wasting a whole day on the weekends.
• SICP: Worked for an hour on Saturday but not at all on any other days.
  • 5/8 isn't very good. Another casualty of vegging out on the weekends, although I could also have made more time during the week on a few occasions.

I had a very productive day on Saturday, and then on Sunday, I got up on time and then picked up my phone before starting yoga, and I spent like 4 hours just looking at dumb stuff on the Internet. I managed to get to I store I wanted to get to before it closed, but after I got back, I just vegged out until it was time to go to bed, and then I stayed up late doing my cooking for the week. I didn't work on SICP or read on Sunday, which I had intended to do. It seems like, if I can avoid using my phone until after I do yoga, take a shower, and get dressed, I'll usually have a productive day; but if I look at my phone before finishing that stuff, I'm doomed to waste my entire morning on mindless browsing. I need a better system for that.