Maigs Soul Searches While Trying to Lift Heavy Things

[Maigs]

So I just passed 7 years of being on the health and fitness bandwagon. I've certainly made progress in that time (lost 50-60lbs, become fitter than I was, found kickboxing) I've jumped around a lot in methods, goals, ideas, plans, etc and haven't made as much progress as I would have liked. I've had a couple mini- and pre-epiphanies lately that will hopefully help me get into a consistent thing and actually make some progress.

 

I've been asking myself "What do I really want?" and here's my basic list of what I came up with:

• To look and be strong
  • Muscle-y arms, shoulders, and thighs
  • Be able to easily do pushups
  • Be able to do muscle ups
  • Better grip strength for hanging obstacles at OCR's
  • Stronger core (though I don't care about it looking strong since that's a lower body fat than I care to work for at this point)
• To be free from pain
  • Fix and prevent plantar faciitis
  • Get some decent flexibility in my legs
  • Prevent shoulder mobility issues that seem to be in the making
• To become leaner
  • Losing 20-25 more pounds of fat
  • Jiggle less
  • Be comfortable with my body

 

Goals:

Kickboxing - I really enjoy this. Keep going an average of 2.5 times a week. Ideally 3 times a week, but life happens and that's okay

 

Food - During the last challenge I started coming to terms with two things about sugar; a) It messes with my moods, making me feel grouchy, anxious, defeated, etc and b) I seem to lose weight fairly easily when I cut it out. It's too early in experimenting to know if both of these are really true or coincidental, but I'm sticking with the no sweets goal. I will keep tracking calories, but I will not have a specific goal of how many to eat for now

 

Lifting - Ah, here's my new big one. Last challenge I was getting antsy to lift again anyway, then I had a minor running injury which led me to (at least temporarily) give up on running. I don't hate it, but I don't love it enough to keep doing it if I keep ending up in pain. I keep adding it in as a goal since I love OCR's, but I've done a full Tough Mudder with very little running. My kickboxing class is HIIT and improving my cardio anyway and I don't care about finishing quickly, just finishing so for now I'm not worrying about running.
So I'm back to lifting. Looking back it's one of the things I wanted from the very beginning 7 years ago and when I started NF 3.5 years ago. But this time I'm going to put in a lot of effort figuring out a lifting plan that works for me and supports my "wants" above. The goal this challenge is simply to get to the gym twice a week and really concentrate on figuring out what that plan needs to be

 

Mobility - My inflexibility is hurting me. Literally. My tight calves are the culprit in my plantar faciitis, my upper legs/hips tightness is leading me towards IT band and hip flexor issues, and my shoulders are in pre-injury levels of crunchiness. I don't want to to hurt. It's also kinda embarrassing that I can't touch my toes or keep my knees straight doing laying core exercises that involve lifting your legs. So my goal is to stretch out at least 4 times a week

 

Obstacles:

Besides myself I don't really have any obstacles this challenge. No trips, no visitors (as far as we know now, FIL might come out but nothing is planned yet), no big days, nothing. Just a fun OCR the last weekend. I'm ready for a boring month, the last few have been far too exciting for me

[Novaurora]

following!!!!!

 

[Maigs]

Just gonna put this here. Physique goals

 

 

Ronda Rousey

[Novaurora]

YOU GOT THIS!!!!

[NeverThatBored]

Following! 

[Rebel Pilot Gar]

Following! Interested in seeing what you choose to do for leg mobility improvement. 

 

I have ongoing calf & IT band tightness and am always looking for new mobility awesomeness. 

[Maigs]

11 hours ago, NeverThatBored said:

Following! 

Glad to have you as always!

 

2 hours ago, Rebel Pilot Gar said:

Following! Interested in seeing what you choose to do for leg mobility improvement. 

 

I have ongoing calf & IT band tightness and am always looking for new mobility awesomeness. 

I'll have to track down a video I posted last challenge that is basically my lower body stretching routine. It hasn't done a ton for my calves but it's great for my hip that keeps trying to give me issues

[Maigs]

Week 0 Day 2

 

Day 1 was a rest day where I stayed away from sugar but didn't do any of my other goals

 

Day 2 I stayed away from sugar, made it to kickboxing, and while I haven't done normal mobility work yet I've been trying all afternoon/evening to stretch out my triceps/lats enough to not make pitiful noises when I lift my arms over my head. I don't know about anyone else, but for me triceps/lats are super tricky to stretch out because while it hurts like hell to put my arms over my head, once they're there the pain stops almost immediately and it doesn't even feel like a stretch. Until 5 minutes later when I try again and mewl all over again I tried foam rolling but couldn't find a good balance between "not enough pressure" and "literally crying".

And the world is out to get me today. At kickboxing they had us doing tricep pushups. Hubs told me that the gym at his work is closed this week, but didn't bother to read the email to find out why (this is important information, are we getting new equipment?). And I had to wash my hair tonight; I wash it every 3 days or so and I was due.

Maigs: I'm gonna go wash my hair and cry

Hubs: Sounds like fun

[Maigs]

13 minutes ago, Maigs said:

 

2 hours ago, Rebel Pilot Gar said:

Following! Interested in seeing what you choose to do for leg mobility improvement. 

 

I have ongoing calf & IT band tightness and am always looking for new mobility awesomeness. 

I'll have to track down a video I posted last challenge that is basically my lower body stretching routine. It hasn't done a ton for my calves but it's great for my hip that keeps trying to give me issues

Here we go: The first one is my basic routine. The second one added some new stuff for me around minute 21 that really helps stretch my glutes (why has no one told me to flex my foot in that position before?!) and IT band

 

Spoiler

The position they get into at minute 4 is amazing for my trouble hip. I will also look over the shoulder at the leg that's pointed back (i.e. left leg tucked, right leg straight back, look over right shoulder)

 

Minutes 21-31 (note to self: I am not doing this long enough on my own....)

[Rebel Pilot Gar]

8 hours ago, Maigs said:

Here we go: The first one is my basic routine. The second one added some new stuff for me around minute 21 that really helps stretch my glutes (why has no one told me to flex my foot in that position before?!) and IT band

 

  Hide contents

The position they get into at minute 4 is amazing for my trouble hip. I will also look over the shoulder at the leg that's pointed back (i.e. left leg tucked, right leg straight back, look over right shoulder)

 

Minutes 21-31 (note to self: I am not doing this long enough on my own....)

 

Thank you! I’ll definitely add those into my current mix and see how it goes

[Maigs]

 Week Zero Tuesday

 

"Rest" day. I took a walk at lunch, then ran errands and made a dent in my projects list in the evening. Somehow I'm in the weird zone where time is absolutely flying by but I don't feel like I'm getting behind on things but if I don't keep moving I will suddenly find myself so far behind I'll just shut down from to.much.to.do.itis (aka, anxiety). So I've been running errands at lunch and after work and hitting projects that aren't urgent but productive. I'm actually feeling really good even though it's overriding my challenge goals for now. I did stay away from sugar but didn't work out or stretch (other than a little bit more with my triceps/lats, they're much better now)

 

Week Zero Wednesday

More running errands over lunch. Then went to kickboxing after work. It was bizarre, I walked in around 5:30 and was literally the only non-trainer there (that's never happened before). Right after though, two more walked in, and then it was non-stop. There was probably 15 people in there by the time I left (it's a specialty gym with a small sqft footprint, 15 is the end of "busy" right before becoming "slammed"). No sugar again but so far no mobility and no promises that it will happen tonight. I'm gonna try to find another project to work on before bed since that's where my motivation is right now

[Cheetah]

Good goals!  You can do it!

Happy Challenge!

[Sabretooth-Kitty]

Great goals, good luck with everything!

[Novaurora]

Hey, there's nothing wrong with following your motivation.  Any forward motion is good!!  Nothing wrong with keeping yourself from being stressed and behind later.

[Quickie]

Also following! I really believe you can do it!
Also thanks a lot for the two videos, I will try your routine at some point this week!

[Charlie_Quinn]

Following. This challenge speaks to my soul.

 

On 9/8/2019 at 5:31 PM, Maigs said:

To look and be strong

• Muscle-y arms, shoulders, and thighs
• Be able to easily do pushups
• Be able to do muscle ups
• Better grip strength for hanging obstacles at OCR's
• Stronger core (though I don't care about it looking strong since that's a lower body fat than I care to work for at this point)

 

 

I WANT ALL OF THIS. Plus, pulls ups, handstand push-ups, double-unders....... the list of wants is never ending

 

On 9/8/2019 at 5:31 PM, Maigs said:

Lifting - Ah, here's my new big one. Last challenge I was getting antsy to lift again anyway, then I had a minor running injury which led me to (at least temporarily) give up on running. I don't hate it, but I don't love it enough to keep doing it if I keep ending up in pain. I keep adding it in as a goal since I love OCR's, but I've done a full Tough Mudder with very little running. My kickboxing class is HIIT and improving my cardio anyway and I don't care about finishing quickly, just finishing so for now I'm not worrying about running.

 

Are you sure we're not the same person? This is exactly the way I've been feeling about running lately. I'm not hating it, it's just.................meh. I did a 10km OCR last weekend in a reasonable time and didn't feel exhausted during or after and I've done little to no running in the past few months. CrossFit seems to be enough cardio to get me through a fun run at an OCR and that's all I want to be doing at the moment. 

 

On 9/10/2019 at 3:07 AM, Maigs said:

while I haven't done normal mobility work yet I've been trying all afternoon/evening to stretch out my triceps/lats enough to not make pitiful noises when I lift my arms over my head.

 

Tight lats and triceps..........I'm right there with ya! I do a stretch (almost) daily that really helps. Attach a thick resistance band to a pull up bar or rig and grip it with one hand. Keep your arm straight and bend your knees till you feel a pull in your lats. Turn slightly to the side (so if you're holding the band with your right hand twist to the left) and you should feel the stretch increase. Hope that helps!

[Maigs]

7 hours ago, Quickie said:

Also following! I really believe you can do it!
Also thanks a lot for the two videos, I will try your routine at some point this week!

Welcome, and thanks! Those stretches have been a life saver for my ability to keep walking normally  

 

1 hour ago, Charlie_Quinn said:

Following. This challenge speaks to my soul.

 

I WANT ALL OF THIS. Plus, pulls ups, handstand push-ups, double-unders....... the list of wants is never ending

Lol. Rangerbrain is a blessing and a curse. I didn't put it in my list, but chinup/pullups are definitely on my lists of wants. 

 

1 hour ago, Charlie_Quinn said:

Are you sure we're not the same person? This is exactly the way I've been feeling about running lately. I'm not hating it, it's just.................meh. I did a 10km OCR last weekend in a reasonable time and didn't feel exhausted during or after and I've done little to no running in the past few months. CrossFit seems to be enough cardio to get me through a fun run at an OCR and that's all I want to be doing at the moment. 

Sometimes I think we are the same person  . I've pretty much always felt that way about running (with occasional brief bursts of wanting to be an actual runner) and I've been coming to terms with the fact that it's not really my thing and that I don't really need to be good at it for OCRs

 

1 hour ago, Charlie_Quinn said:

 

Tight lats and triceps..........I'm right there with ya! I do a stretch (almost) daily that really helps. Attach a thick resistance band to a pull up bar or rig and grip it with one hand. Keep your arm straight and bend your knees till you feel a pull in your lats. Turn slightly to the side (so if you're holding the band with your right hand twist to the left) and you should feel the stretch increase. Hope that helps!

Ooh, next time I kill my tri's & lats I'll have to keep this in mind. Today the fun is my biceps which makes me worried for how tomorrow will look since I'm a day early for DOMs

[Maigs]

Maigs Weekend of Questionable Decisions

 

I had a good weekend, but can't say I always made the smartest choices  

 

Saturday morning I had a worse-than-normal case of my dizzy spells. You know when you stand up too quickly and get dizzy? I get that worse than most people and Saturday they were some of the strongest ones I've had. But once the spell passes I'm fine, at least until I sit down for a while again. Then Hubs wanted to make cinnamon rolls for breakfast so I had two jumbo ones. I thought about eating some peanut butter just so I had something other than pure sugar...but forgot. An hour or so later I went to kickboxing (for the 4th time last week!). Hubs gets bonus points here because I asked "Do I want to go to the gym?" and his immediately replied "Yes, you do", so I went  Well, apparently 2 cinnamon rolls is bad fuel for a 30 minute HIIT workout because I felt like I was gonna pass out in rounds 6 and 7. But I pushed through and finished with a higher than normal calorie burn so...win?

 

Sunday Hubs got a message from a friend we offered to help move saying they'll be ready with the truck for us to help load at 3. l looked at the time, 1pm, and said "I've got time for a workout" and went to the weights gym. Because lifting weights is what sane people do before helping someone move. I spent about an hour at the gym, then moved some furniture. And these guys had some heavy stuff. Between the gym and moving my biceps are already a bit toasty and are likely to get worse by tomorrow. We got most everything moved and they provided the requisite pizza and beer. I had 3 pieces of pizza which was a reasonable amount considering my day, and two Mike's Hards (black cherry and tangarine which are both amazing) and my lightweight ass was feeling those two drinks. I probably average about a drink a month and can't remember the last time I had two at a time and it showed  

[Novaurora]

20 hours ago, Maigs said:

Maigs Weekend of Questionable Decisions

Hi twin lol. (Though your questionable weekend was much less questionable than mine...ha)

 

20 hours ago, Maigs said:

Because lifting weights is what sane people do before helping someone move.

oh dear....

 

20 hours ago, Maigs said:

(black cherry and tangarine which are both amazing)

the tangerine is the SHIT

 

 

[Maigs]

3 hours ago, Novaurora said:

Hi twin lol. (Though your questionable weekend was much less questionable than mine...ha)

I considered a third Mike's, which would have made it a bit more questionable. 

 

3 hours ago, Novaurora said:

the tangerine is the SHIT

It was soooo good. I'm pretty iffy on citrus stuff so I wasn't sure about it but I took a sip of Hubs and had to have my own 

[Maigs]

I guess I should wrap up week zero

 

Kickboxing - 4 times

Lifting - none. I went the Saturday before and the Sunday after but missed the actual week. That's okay while I'm getting in the groove though

Sugar - My only sugar for the week was the cinnamon rolls Saturday

Stretching - twice. Which is less than it should be but more than it has been

[Cheetah]

Not a bad week at all!  Keep up the good work!

[Novaurora]

20 hours ago, Maigs said:

Sugar - My only sugar for the week was the cinnamon rolls Saturday

This is impressive.  

 

Great job on 0 week!!!

[Maigs]

Let's get caught up on Week 1 I guess

 

Sunday

I already went over this a bit with my weekend of questionable decisions post  In the morning I got Hubs involved with my decluttering efforts and we bought him some new jeans and got rid of six old pairs that didn't fit and most were ripped/paint splattered. Now all his pants fit, are presentable, and fit into one drawer. On the way home we stopped at Taco Bell and tried a couple new vegetarian options they just added (I had to laugh when I saw they added a vegetarian menu because Taco Bell has always been a vegetarians best friend when they need fast food). Then I lifted iron and furniture and ate pizza and drank some Mike's. 

 

Monday

I ate the last of the leftover pizza that we ordered Friday, making it four days in a row of pizza. I made it to kickboxing after work and was much better fueled than I was Saturday. I didn't go shopping over the weekend so I had no food at home for dinners. Hubs ate the last of his part of the pizza for dinner and I had PB&J oatmeal, then finally went shopping. But I was bad and gave into half priced Ben & Jerry's. I only ate a small amount but that means I still have a large amount in the freezer. 

 

Tuesday

Thanks to no homemade dinners lately, I had no leftovers for lunch, so I got Burger King. If anyone's curious, the Impossible Whopper is pretty good (Hubs said he can't tell the difference between it and the regular Whopper), but since I don't actually like beef I prefer their other Morningstar Veggie Burger. So I got that with fries and a Dr. Pepper. When I got home from work I was kinda grouchy, not sure if it's from sugar or because I'd spent too much energy thinking about our next steps financially (first world problems, money is good, just too many options with no clear winner). So I ate some more B&J but still a reasonable amount, I think I've less than a serving total, then forced myself to make dinner because I knew that would help immediately and for today since I would have leftovers for lunch. After dinner I went to the weights gym and did some more lifting. I had the place to myself at first, but then the 50-something gym bro showed up and made lots of grunting noises I could hear over my headphones. He seems nice enough but I've never seen him work legs, just heavy upper body and he grunts so loudly. I did some dumbbell goblet squats and some deadlifts so hopefully my legs will be more sore than my arms in a day or so  Oh, and I did some half-assed stretching which I'm gonna count because it's better than nothing and I'm just trying to get into the habit of doing some

[Maigs]

Wednesday

 

I spent too much time trying to plan 15 steps ahead yesterday and got myself somewhat frustrated. I eventually talked myself back to only thinking 1-2 steps ahead and calmed down some, but not before some damage was done. I almost talked myself out of going to kickboxing pushed myself to go. I don't regret it, but of course the universe was against me and there were tons of squats for my already toasted legs from Tuesday's workout. Then I rushed home for game night. Hubs had made pasta for dinner and I scarfed down a bowl, then started digging into cookies a friend brought. Hubs gave me the eyebrow and I realized that I was still hungry so I got a second bowl of pasta. But instead of stopping halfway through like i should have I ate the whole thing, then continued to eat the cookies until I was in physical pain. I actually laid down in bed in the fetal position while the game was still going (and fell asleep....). I think I might need to eat before gaming and have a hard stop between food and socializing so I don't mindlessly eat myself into a painful food coma.