Zeeko Remastered: Prologue

[zeeko13]

Hello folks!  Many years ago, I used to post in this forum. I was a casual poster, but tried a few challenges. A lot has changed since I was last here, so it seems fitting to return to the start line.

 

I have unfortunately dropped the ball on my general health. I got distracted with my career, love life, and anxiety chewed away at my remaining will. I used to be of average health, now I'm back to my pre-fitness levels of obesity & performance. I'm not putting myself down for it. I simply have postponed taking action longer than I'd like. No more of that! Right now is the perfect time for me to focus on my physical health. 

 

Because I have such a long journey from where I am starting to where I want to be, I divided up my goals even further than I normally would. For the Biggest of Pictures, I have my Ultimate goal. This will be my compass when the fog of everyday life gets too thick. It will help me remember why I subject myself to these whims. 

 

Ultimate Goal:

• Balanced performance of strength & endurance
• 20-23% body fat
• Comfortably bike 30+ miles
• Comfortably hike 4-6 hours
• Run a 5K

 

It will take me a very, very long time to get to those goals, especially the body fat %. Because it seems so far away, I created a mid-boss to have an anchor to look forward to in the meantime. When I was at my healthiest, I was still on my journey to that Ultimate Self, but I was also very satisfied with who I was in the moment. I miss those days with a giant dose of nostalgia when I see pictures from that era. It was about 5 years ago, so there's nothing stopping me from returning to that level except my procrastination. 

 

Mid-Boss:

• Novice lifter
• 170 lb (don't remember my %)
• Comfortably bike 15 miles 4x/week
• Comfortably walk 2 hours 5-6x/week
• Hike 2-3 hours

 

I loved who I was even at the mid-boss level, but I'm not even close to that, either. That's okay, that's why I'm here.

 

Today:

• No strength routine
• 240 lb
• Can bike for 1.5 miles until heart rate spikes (Oof)
• Walking for more than 20 minutes feels like jogging at mid-boss level
• Hike? Outside? Can we just take a drive?

 

So. Cat's out of the bag, I have really let myself go. I grew up a fat kid, had a near-death experience, took charge of my health for 3 years, lost a lot of social support in a short amount of time, and mental illness ravaged whatever threads I had left. Over time, it just got a bit worse every year until now. 

 

Okay , Okay. Enough rambling. Let's get to the good stuff. 

 

Quest 1: Establish a Fitness Routine

Establishing habit is my main goal for this challenge. It is the King Bob-omb. I'm not going to look at performance as a metric, although I will keep it in mind as the weeks go on. I haven't decided on a specific strength routine yet, but luckily I have previous experience to draw on before the 2nd rolls up. I'll make a second "pre" post detailing it. SMART translation:

• Strength train with full-body work-out 2x/week
• Walk or bike for 20+ minutes, 3+x/week

 

Quest 2: Improve Endurance

Okay, I lied. I'm honestly worried about my heart's health, especially with current events. I don't like how obvious my body struggles to exist, so it's my "lighthouse" goal. I need something tangible to feel like I'm doing something productive, because establishing habits doesn't quite do it for me. SMART  translation:

• Increase walk duration by 5 minutes each time
• Increase bike duration by 5 minutes each time

 

Quest 3: Begin to Lose Weight

I'm leaving this one somewhat vague on purpose. I believe that actions come first, results will come later. I have unfortunately had a lot of false starts by expecting to lose weight as quickly & firmly as I did the first time, and gave up after weeks of my weight not budging. I honestly consider plateauing a victory at this point, but I'd like to see my weight go down after 4 consistent weeks of habit-forming. SMART translation:

• Weight at any point under 240 lb by 9/5/20

 

Bonus: Record-Keeping

My last goal is to journal more often. It helps my mental health. SMART translation:

• Journal entry 3+x/week

 

Duty calls, so I must depart. But I will be back soon!

[Sloth the Enduring]

Welcome Back!

[Harriet]

Welcome back and yes, now is an excellent time to start up again. Good luck with the goals! 

[cd667]

This sounds like the best time to start!

 

I look forward to hearing more from you.

[jegan]

Great work on the return!

[fitnessgurl]

Welcome back!

[scottbbb]

Kudos for being so awesome at breaking up your goals, and huge props for taking time to focus on mental health as well as physical! Looking forward to working through these next few weeks along with you. You've got this!

[zeeko13]

Thank you everyone! I promise all these responses are very motivating for me. I'm excited to see everyone's challenges as well

 

I got back on my bike after a couple of months today. Filled the tires, started off gentle, then biked for 15 minutes. I'm pretty sure I didn't cool down properly because I feel pretty nauseous at the moment. I made sure to bike before I ate, but it was probably just a shock to my system. 

 

At least I can walk just fine! Hah.

 

For my strength routine, the first week might look a bit goofy as my partner & I are going camping for 4 days for their birthday. I think I can still schedule things correctly. I decided to go with the NF dumbbell routine while our office/gym room is still being reorganized. After this challenge, I'll probably switch to barbell since the squat rack will be accessible again. Thanks for the investment, past self

[MezzotheLefty]

Good luck! You have a good set of goals here. ☺️

 

[juliebarkley]

You have very well-thought out goals! Now comes the doing (ie. the hard part). Following along for support.

[Xena]

On 7/29/2020 at 6:35 PM, zeeko13 said:

I got back on my bike after a couple of months today. Filled the tires, started off gentle, then biked for 15 minutes. I'm pretty sure I didn't cool down properly because I feel pretty nauseous at the moment. I made sure to bike before I ate, but it was probably just a shock to my system.

 

I'm pretty excited about your challenge. You can totally do this!

Filling up the tires and digging out the bike is probably the hardest part. Great job!

Is it hot where you live? I overheat easily and feel miserable exercising in heat. Stay with the walking/biking even if you have to modify the effort level or some other aspects. 

[zeeko13]

19 hours ago, Xena said:

 

I'm pretty excited about your challenge. You can totally do this!

Filling up the tires and digging out the bike is probably the hardest part. Great job!

Is it hot where you live? I overheat easily and feel miserable exercising in heat. Stay with the walking/biking even if you have to modify the effort level or some other aspects. 

 

You're totally right, just getting the bike in working order was a big step and now I just have to use it! It is hot here in Los Angeles (the valley), so I'll probably stick to mornings if I want to bike ride. Luckily, I tolerate walking in the heat pretty well, at least at first. I may redact that statement when my walks start getting longer

 

[zeeko13]

On 7/31/2020 at 11:15 PM, juliebarkley said:

You have very well-thought out goals! Now comes the doing (ie. the hard part). Following along for support.

 

Thank you, and you're right, doing it is the real challenge. Thanks for following

[zeeko13]

Day 1 & 2

 

Hi everyone, I hope everyone has a decent start to their challenge!

 

Day 1

Sunday was my partner's birthday, so I spent that with her instead of the challenge. We played Jackbox with some friends, went out for a car ride, and drank a lot of caffeine. It was a really good day. 

 

Day 2

I woke up, and refreshed myself on form for some strength exercises. When I looked up the NF dumbbell routine, I quickly discarded it because of one reason: push-ups. I cannot, never have been able to do push-ups, even at my fittest. Modified push-ups have never felt very productive to me. So, I decided to do dumbbell bench presses & rows instead. And then I got to thinking, I used to do Stronglifts 5x5, and it has bench presses & rows, why don't I just use that since I have the app?

 

I looked at the squat rack, and remembered why I didn't already decide that. The office is set in a way where I can't adjust the safety bars any lower. They're set for squats, so I can't use the barbell for bench presses. Yet. So, I'm going to just follow the 5x5 routine, but use dumbbells for bench presses & rows. Barbell rows have always been a difficult lift for me to 'read', so starting off with dumbbells feels right (maybe the posture is more straightforward? I'm not sure). 

 

I have a standard barbell because I originally bought an adjustable dumbbell set with a lot of standard plates. I weighed out the 'bells. My bar is 19 lb & my dumbs are 9 lb total (4.5 lb each). I reset my app, put in my available equipment, and adjusted the starting weight of today's exercises. I started off with 'just the bar' (figuratively), and I'm glad I did. I've had a ~learning experience~ in the past with the bench press by starting off too heavy and plateauing way too soon. 

 

So yeah, it was really goofy & awkward starting off with basically no weight, but that's what I expected. It's about getting the body to remember, right? At least at first. 

 

Afterwards, I decided I wanted to continue my productivity, and took a walk. The hot weather actually felt good for the first 18 minutes, and then I started vigorously melting. I was very happy I was so close to home when that hit me. 

 

I had my therapy session (luckily it was more practical than emotional today). I wrote in my journal the things we went over, how I felt about events in the past few days, and yeah. Just checking in with myself. 

 

5x5

Barbell Squats: 19 lb

Dumbbell Bench Press: 19 lb total

Dumbbell Rows: 19 lb total

 

Walk: 20 minutes

 

Journal: Complete

[Xena]

Sounds like a really productive day. Hope you have a good session.

[MezzotheLefty]

5 hours ago, zeeko13 said:

So yeah, it was really goofy & awkward starting off with basically no weight, but that's what I expected. It's about getting the body to remember, right? At least at first. 

 

Pushing through the awkward and doing it is such a HUGE step though! Congrats on a great start to the challenge. You can do it!!

[Xena]

Hope your week has been good!

[cd667]

Magnificent progress with the bike!

 

Yes, I'm with @Xena. How's it going?

[fitnessgurl]

*knocking on your screen* anybody out there?

[Xena]

Helllooooo.....

Hope everything is going well, but it's also ok if things aren't perfect.

[cd667]

On 8/17/2020 at 1:50 AM, Xena said:

Hope everything is going well, but it's also ok if things aren't perfect.

Yes, @zeeko13. How are you?