I Just Wish... Ben Were Here

[mustardblue]

Hi all

I've just posted my introduction in, of all places, the introductions section. Visit there for personal context, or, don't! You are your own person and you can do what you want, physics permitting. Apologies in advance, I talk a lot. And I'm Canadian, so I also apologise for it.

 

I've been doing the beginner bodyweight workout, although not in its entirety, for just about a month now. Day One, having not done any sort of structured workout in 15 years, I went as hard as I possibly could and burned out (pretty hilariously) after two circuits. For two days after I couldn't really move properly because my chickeny legs were having a tough time adjusting to this whole "you've never done two squats in a row and then out of nowhere you did 40 of them" thing. But I learned immediately to pace myself a little better, and although I was still just doing two circuits, I got to watch numbers increase. By my 4th workout I had made it to doing three circuits, even though they weren't complete as prescribed. See, I have been enjoying bad knees since I was 12, and lunges in particular are very challenging for me so I've been doing 10 instead of 20 (we'll actually come back to this two more times in this post). My third circuits I also was doing 10-15 squats instead of 20, and my pushups have been 'cheater' pushups where I'm on my knees instead of my toes - bodyweight workouts are harder when you weigh more, y'know? But I was chugging along and slowly getting numbers up and feeling really good.

Things were okay, until... they weren't. Had I been active here at the time I would have posted in the Respawn Point. On a Monday where I was supposed to exercise (I'm doing one day on, one day off) I ended up NOT exercising. I was feeling bad and it was one of those days where it was hard to do anything. Even though I *know* that getting off my ass and even doing one circuit would have made me feel better, I instead decided to not do that at all. One day turned into FIVE. On the 5th day I was like, it's today or not at all. I knew that if I didn't do it that day, there would be no coming back for a very, very long time. And it was awful. If my Day One I was starting at zero, this time I felt like I was at negative two. I wanted to throw up in my first circuit, and I had to give up halfway through my second. Lunge number six - I couldn't get out of it because my knee seized up. I felt pretty defeated. But two days later I got back on track and slowly have worked my way up, even getting to 20 squats on all three circuits on my third workout since starting back.

We find ourselves at today, a workout day. I was having a bad day, again, and I spent nearly two hours... trying to solder a wire. (facepalm goes here) Things just kept going wrong. I've soldered hundreds of wires in my time, but everything just kept fighting against me. My soldering iron broke and I had to take it apart and finish what I was doing with the disassociated components of the tool all dangling very safely from a pair of pliers (I took a picture if you're interested). It was absurd and... I. Was. So. Angry!! Were I not composed of some amount of consideration for my neighbours I would have shrieked unintelligibly until it felt better. But I still had a workout to do, so I finished my stupid mothereffing wire and then I shoved my bedroom into the corner, as usual, to make room for exercise o'clock, put on System of a Down and then proceeded to kick some ass. I worked hard, for sure, but I felt good, like it didn't matter that I was too hot and out of breath. Half of my pushups were REAL pushups instead of cheaters. And instead of my usual 10 lunges.... I did 12. On each circuit.

I know, I know. It's not a giant increase. But it felt like a huge leap. It still feels like a mountain that I just destroyed.

I'm not someone who feels a lot of pride but tonight I'm really proud of myself. Enough so that I finally decided to come here and start like... talking... to people.

 

 

[Caius]

Little by little one travels far. Great job my friend!

[Edgedancer]

Congrats on the lunges, and for getting back on track! Depending on your fitness level the beginner bodyweight workout can be really tough.

 

We always want fast progress but take care of your knees during your lunges. Getting injured is clearly not what you want! 

 

[mustardblue]

Thanks y'all!

Up to 14 now :)