Big Show Respawns

[Big_Show]

I decided to call it quits on my previous challenge for various reasons, but they can all basically be summed up with me needing a break from targets and tracking after months without a proper break.  After a nice fortnight or so off I started things up again last week, and as this new challenge begins I'm just coming to the end of my Zero Week (I track my weeks from Wednesday through to Tuesday).

 

I've just had my 38th birthday and now I'm looking ahead to where I want to be next year - a few weeks after my 39th birthday we'll finally be having our postponed wedding, so the state I'm in at my next birthday will be the one immortalised in photos and videos for the rest of my life.  Time to put the work now then!

My goals are pretty much identical to ones for the previous challenge (and for similar reasons):

 

1) Average at least 3 miles per day over each week - I'm recording the mileage of all intentional cardio, not just daily step totals (although I'll continue to log that anyway, because data).  That means all walks (via my Fitbit) and gym cardio machines (the bike & rowing machine especially, cross-trainers don't go very "far" for the time it takes) will count towards my total.

2) Stick to my calorie target for the week - I aim for my daily totals for the week to average out at within 500 calories of my daily target, calculated based on my current weight.  It works for me when I stick to it, so I just need to stick to it.  Including the weekends.

 
3) Gym workout three times per week - still sticking with Wendler's 5/3/1 programme.

 
LQ) Minimum of 3 Spanish lessons on Duolingo per day - I really want to make some proper progress with this language as I definitely feel like I've been treading water so far.

 

Extra) Find a physical skill to learn - the Olympics have just started, and I'm always so impressed with the sheer physical mastery these athletes have over their own bodies.  I've already currently working towards muscle-ups (still got to get to full pull-ups first), but I really want to spend this challenge investigating what options like handstands, planches, human flags, etc. there are, or even more dexterity-related skills like juggling, that I could work towards.  Although whatever it is, it'll probably be easier when I've lost more of my bodyfat so I'm keeping the focus on that for this challenge.

[darkfoxx]

Following per usual! 

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Following! 

Also

DAMMIT BIG SHOW

[Salinger]

Hey following along, good luck ❤️ x

[Mr_Willes]

Keep swinging big man!

 

[Big_Show]

23 hours ago, darkfoxx said:

Following per usual! 

 

20 hours ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

Following! 

Also

DAMMIT BIG SHOW

 

13 hours ago, Salinger said:

Hey following along, good luck ❤️ x

 

12 hours ago, Mr_Willes said:

Keep swinging big man!

 

 

Thanks everyone, good to have you along!

 

-------------------------------------------------------

It feels a bit odd to be doing my first stat dump at the end of my week, but here's the numbers so far for my Zero Week:

 

Tuesday weight: 111.1kg - this week has got rid of all my water weight and general "fluffiness", so I'm all set for Week 1's achievements to feel like genuine progress.

Monday Mileage: 1.74 (1.30 over target for the week) - Fitbit troubles and we had a total sofa day on Sunday to watch the Olympics so

Monday calories: 2186 (1096 over target for the week) - Saturday was a day out to a local Rugby 7s tournament so it piled quite a lot of calories on to my target, but it's the last big event we've got for a few weeks so it should be easier to stick on target for the next few weeks.

Monday Duolingo lessons: 3/3 - 2x new lessons on Emotions & 1 revision lesson on Intro.

 

Tuesday has been pretty solid so far, and is pretty much exactly what we've got planned for all the working week of the next fortnight - I got up and hit the gym before work this morning (40mins on the bike with a podcast in), then after work I would have gone for a walk if our supermarket delivery hadn't been cancelled and I had to drive over to collect it instead (a lot of their drivers have been pinged by the Track & Trace and have to isolate), and then we've got everything done as quickly as possible to get to the sofa to catch up on all today's Olympics action!

 

It's been a good day for events so far; some swimming golds for us, drama in the Taekwondo finals, and good matches in the Rugby 7s too - Fiji absolutely destroyed Team GB in our last pool game, then we nearly got trounced by the USA too but somehow mounted a massive comeback to make it through to tomorrow's semi-finals!  I'll be sitting to watch that last game after I've posted this.

 

Planning a nice early night today though as I'm pretty tired - another early start tomorrow for a weights session before work and I feel like I need a proper good kip first!

[Big_Show]

Wednesday weight: 111.1kg - holding steady today.

Tuesday Mileage: 10.08 (8.38 over target for the week) - that bike session helped out nicely.

Tuesday calories: 2108 (689 over target for the week) - nearly back into target, close enough for Zero Week!

Tuesday Duolingo lessons: 3/3 - 2x new "Emotions" lessons, 1x "Work" revision lesson.

 

 

 

Pleased with how my Zero Week has gone there, feels like I'm all set for the first proper week of my challenge.

 

Started off with a trip to the gym this morning for my Bench Press session; there was someone on it when I arrived (there's only one) but after an extra 5mins warm-up on the cross-trainer it finally got clear - the work sets were:

55kg x3

62.5kg x3

70kg x3+ (I managed 4) - I'm deloading after this cycle as I could barely managed the 5 rep workout last week, so next week will involve one last further PB attempt then it knocks 10% off and I start working my way up again.

 

This was followed with 5x10 DB Press @ 2x24kg, 3x8 assisted pull-ups @ 42kg, 3x8 assisted dips @ 28kg, and then I ran out of time for bro-curls due to the extended warm-up.  But I alreayd felt like I'd had a decent pump from the rest of the workout so I'm not fussed.

 

This evening I'm spending some time pruning my social media a bit to try to help my concentrate on other things better; I've deleted Twitter from my phone, and I'm busy unfollowing accounts that I appear to only follow because I always have?  Hoping it helps with stopping my getting distracted throughout the day from now on.

 

Right, time for the Olympics summary programme on TV and another early-ish night - back to the gym for another bike session tomorrow morning and I'm still pretty bushed...

[Big_Show]

Thursday weight: 110.9kg - nice to dip back under there again.

Wednesday Mileage: 1.89 (1.11 under target for the week) - just the little walk after work .

Wednesday calories: 2277 (208 under target for the week) - that's an ok start to the week, don't need much of a bufer this weekend.

Wednesday Duolingo lessons: 3/3 - 1x new "Emotions" lesson, 2x revision

 

Better sleep last night but still feeling a bit tired (dozed off again and needed that second alarm this morning!) but made it to the gym for a bike session before work.  After work I get the fun of cutting the grass (over an hour's work but sadly very little mileage!) and then we're doing a zoom pub quiz with the Welshman's work team, hence my afternoon update.

 

I have a nice set of titty DOMS going on right now, backing up my opinion that yesterday's weights session was a good one - I felt like I had a proper pump going on after it, so I can only imagine how it would have felt had I time for the bro curls at the end as well!  Tomorrow's deadlift day which always feels awesome, but probably less of pump at the end.

 

Then we're finally on to the weekend!

[Endor]

Hola senor! Dos cervesas por favor! That's about all you need isn't it?! Are you planning a holiday somewhere Spanish speaking?  

 

How'd you like our sweary bogan gold winner and her nutter coach?! 

[Big_Show]

16 hours ago, Endor said:

Hola senor! Dos cervesas por favor! That's about all you need isn't it?! Are you planning a holiday somewhere Spanish speaking?  

 

How'd you like our sweary bogan gold winner and her nutter coach?! 

 

Hoping to go back to Sitges near Barcelona or Gran Canaria next time we travel abroad, and it bugged me not being able to speak the language at all last time!  I remember enough to get by in Germany and France, but Spanish is completely new to me.

 

She was so aussie it was unbelievable!

 

----------------------------------------------------

 

Friday weight: 110.7kg - nice to dip back under there again.

Thursday Mileage: 7.47 (3.36 over target for the week) - ticking over nicely

Thursday calories: 2241 (452 under target for the week) - that's the weekend buffer sorted.

Thursday Duolingo lessons: 3/3 - 3x revision lessons.

 

Well, we lost the pub quiz again but judging by the top teams' scores we're absolutely convinved that they were googling the answers anyway.  We had fun playing and had a couple of drinks too, so that's the main thing.  And I got the grass cut before it rained too, so that probably burned off all the calories I drank!

 

This morning I dragged myself out of bed for the last gym session of the week.  It was the 5/3/1 Deadlift workout - my work sets were:

85kg x5

97.5kg x3

107.5kg x1+ (I did 4) - that's another post-pandemic PB, so I'm well pleased with that!  Last rep started to feel a bit ropey so I stopped at 4 good reps instead of trying for a fifth or more bad ones.  Either way, my veeeeeery slow build-up is finally starting to bear fruit, so next cycle I add another 5kg on to my training max and carry on!

 

This was followed with another 5x10 DL @ 82.5kg and then 3x8 hanging straight-leg raises - I managed 8, 7, 6, 6 (27 total) which is big progress from last time too.  Then hopped on the bike as c ool-down to stretch my legs out a little bit.

 

Tonight after work we're popping out to the pub for a couple of pints - we realised last night that one year today will be our rearranged wedding date (damn you Covid) so we're going to have a nice drink then I'm cooking a slightly fancier dinner than we had already planned (same ingredients, slightly more effort!) so it should be a nice evening!

[juliebarkley]

On 7/26/2021 at 2:56 PM, Big_Show said:

Extra) Find a physical skill to learn - the Olympics have just started, and I'm always so impressed with the sheer physical mastery these athletes have over their own bodies.  I've already currently working towards muscle-ups (still got to get to full pull-ups first), but I really want to spend this challenge investigating what options like handstands, planches, human flags, etc. there are, or even more dexterity-related skills like juggling, that I could work towards.  Although whatever it is, it'll probably be easier when I've lost more of my bodyfat so I'm keeping the focus on that for this challenge.

Excited to see where this takes you!

[Big_Show]

Got to be honest, I didn't do very well at sticking to my plan over the weekend.

 

Monday weight: 112.0kg - usual Monday rebound, but higher than I'd ideally want.

Sunday Mileage: 0.00 (4.76 over target for the week) - I recorded no deliberate cardio over the weekend.

Sunday calories: 2613 (1666 over target for the week) - and realistically speaking, I very likely missed things off from my logging over the last few days as well.

Sunday Duolingo lessons: 0/3 - I didn't get round to doing any of these this weekend either.

 

It was a very full weekend though!  Friday evening we popped out to the pub after work for a couple of pints (that turned into three as we were so comfortable.  Saturday morning I did some overtime, then went to do some gardening for my Dad, then we settled in with some beers to watch the second Lions test vs. South Africa.

 

On Sunday we were up early and out all day at a craft fayre at the community centre - during this last lockdown the Welshman started making greeting cards and seeling them on an Etsy store, and this was the first attempt at selling them in person.  We were there from 10-4 and it went well (I surprised him with my ability to sell alternative cards if we'd run out of a specific one people were looking for), and afterwards we heading back to the pub again for another celebratory pint.

 

All this means that between the beers for the rugby, the unplanned pub trips, and the cake from the nannas at the community centre (which was EXCELLENT) I well and truly smashed my calorie target for the last few days, while simultaneously failing to go for any walks.  Not the best start if I want to get down to 105kg any time soon.

 

I even said last week:

 

On 7/29/2021 at 3:15 PM, Big_Show said:

don't need much of a buffer this weekend.

 

But it's clearly worth remembering that now we're out of Lockdown and it's Summer, there's always going to be an opportunity to blow my calorie target.

 

So.

 

First up, I need to make myself a decent calorie buffer heading into weekends even if I don't think I'll need it - if nothing interesting happens, then I just have a bit more of a deficit that week.  Or I can have another snack when I'm feeling hungry.  Either's good.  I also need to revist my snacks, make sure there's some lower calorie options for when I clearly just want to eat something instead of needing to fill my stomach up.

 

I also need to prioritise getting walks and/or bike sessions in each weekend, although this does sometimes just mean remembering hit Start on my Fitbit app when I'm popping out to the shops.

 

Tomorrow I'm heading to the gym before work to start undoing the damage; by my count I need to get a good 7.5miles in at least to get that one back on track.

 

Week 1 may not have gone perfectly, but I'm damn well gonna smash Week 2!

[Endor]

We're all powerless to resist a good granny cake!

 

Back on the horse this week mate  

[Big_Show]

Tuesday weight: 111.5kg

Monday Mileage: 2.00 (5.76 under target for the week) - got a good walk in after work.

Monday calories: 2483 (1664 over target for the week) - keep having to remind myself not to sack this off for the rest of the tracking week just because I had a bad weekend.  I remember hearing someone put it "When you get a flat tyre you don't go round and slash the other three..."

Monday Duolingo lessons: 5/3 - trying to make up for lost time at the weekend, I did three revision lessons (SHopping, School 2, and Work) and two new Emotions lessons.  Felt good to get into the flow of it.

 

This morning I got to the gym before work and spet 40mins on the bike, alternating between 2mins30 at a lower gear and 2mins30 and a slightly higher one.  Only been spinning my legs at a constant resistance before, so it's the beginning of getting into some proper cardio work again.  And I covered just over 10miles as well in the process, which makes up for the week's deficit.  A week of not going backwards is now progress!

 

Tomorrow's the start of a new week so I'll do a proper summary post to assess how it went, and I'm also off so I'm heading to the gym for my squat session and then generally pottering round havinga  nice relaxing day.  Obviously I'll need to get a good walk in, but also I plan to catch up on any Olympics that I've missed.  I reckon I've kept pretty up to date with it all, but there's bound to be a few awesome races/events/performances that I missed and need proper watching.

[Big_Show]

Wednesday weight: 110.5kg - the dance of the scale continues.

Tuesday Mileage: 11.65 (2.89 over target for the week) - that bike session made up my deficit.

Tuesday calories: 2480 (1659 over target for the week) - thankfully on to a new week now...

Tuesday Duolingo lessons: 3/3 - 3x revision lessons - "School", "Schedule", and "People 3"

 

 

 

So my weight didn't realise do much this week after my absolute shocker of a weekend, but it's still down from where I started so I'll just decide to be glad I didn't backslide.  I'm getting nicely back on track with my 1000 Mile Challenge, so that's moving nicely.  Need to knuckle down with both of them though, and stop taking things for granted that I won't hit an obstacle later on in the week.

 

On to Wednesday!  I've taken today off work as general relaxing Self-Care day (loads of holiday to use up and not like we'll be heading off for a week in the sun any time soon...) so I started off with a trip to the gym for my 5/3/1 Squats day - the work sets were:

72.5kg x5

82.5kg x3

90kg x1+ (I managed 3) - still quite comfortable I think.

 

This followed up with 5x10 leg press @ 130kg, 5x10 seated leg press @ 40kg, and 5x10 calf raises @ 95kg.  A good start to my relaxing day!

 

Since then I've been sat on the sofa catching up on the Olympics, and also trying to clear some of the various things I've got lined up to read and half-started; so far today I've read an issue of Attitude, an issue of Gardener's World (we got permission from the landlord to put some flower beds into our garden), and a few chapters from my Intro to Stoicism book.  After I finish that and the fiction book I'm currently on, I plan to start a full reread of all the Mistborn books and short stories ahead of the next book coming out later in the year.  Also popped out for my walk, obviously.

 

Tomorrow I'm back to the gym for another bike session, and then again on Friday for my last session of 5/3/1 (chest day).  Then I get a few days off from the programme to recover, so I'm thinkinf of going in and just having a play around with some of the kit they have.  Definitely want to at least have a go on the monkey bars to see if I can do them!

 

 

[Endor]

On 8/5/2021 at 3:12 AM, Big_Show said:

ahead of the next book coming out later in the year

Whaaaaat?! Woohoo! Gotta go look this up!

[Big_Show]

On 8/10/2021 at 10:58 PM, Endor said:

Whaaaaat?! Woohoo! Gotta go look this up!

 

 

The latest news on his blog is that he just finished the first draft, currently sitting at 150k words, and is on to the first redraft.  The clock is ticking to finish that total reread - unfortunately I just accidentlaly managed to buy myself four new books from a charity shop at the weekend, so matters have been complicated...

 

---------------------------------------

 

It has been nearly two weeks since my last checkin here and progress has been... less than ideal.

 

Positives first:

- I have been consistently keeping up with the gym, finished the last cycle with a couple of post-lockdown PBs, and am now starting on the next cycle.

- the Welshman persudade me to try the new local Parkrun last week and I was pleasantly surprised to not just finish it in one piece, but also in under 26mins!  I then had major DOMS for literally five days afterwards, but somehow I was still persuaded to try another one this Saturday and beat my time again despite it being hillier!  The DOMS were far less as well, so this is boding well for my unexpectedly being able to do limited amounts of running again.

 

Here's the graph evidence of how things have tailed off:

 

 

 

My diet compliance has been less than ideal.  The Welshman's family has been over visiting (from Wales, funnily enough) for the last week so there's been multiple family BBQs, and various other opportunites for socialising and fun.  This has inevitably lead to excess calories, along with just the general availability of opportunitites to go out and do fun stuff.

 

Today it's officially time to get back on the horse though; my weight has started creeping up again, and quite frankly there will always be the opportunity to go out and do fun stuff.  If I just keep waiting for the perfect time to start losing weight again, it'll never happen because there'll never be the perfect time.  So if not now, then when?

 

I'm going to try to get back to daily updates from now on as it helps my focus, and from Wednesday I'll start my new tracking week as usual.  It's not a brand new Respawn, but just more of a Mindset Reset - time to refocus, recommit, and properly crack on with Operation 105kg! 

[Endor]

2 hours ago, Big_Show said:

The latest news on his blog is that he just finished the first draft, currently sitting at 150k words, and is on to the first redraft.

I didn't even know about the second series at all, pleasant surprise! I'm now listening to the alloy of law on audible. Thanks for the tip!

[Salinger]

Great job! Amazing park run times ❤️ x

[Big_Show]

On to the second day of my re-respawn and it seems to be going ok so far.  My weight has already dropped back down to 111.7kg, so that's the water weight dropping off again.  It was also already my second day at the gym this week.

 

Yesterday was an odd session - I went along all fired up for my Squat session but, while the effort was there, the strength didn't seem to be and I couldn't manage all the works sets.  It surprised me as I thought I was still a while off that point, but I'm going to deload and carry on with the rest of the cycle with the lower weights.  It's no biggie, I'm definitely not an ego lifter as I'm way to nervous under the bar to get to that point!

 

Today's session was Bench Press, and this was also the first cycle after a deload - the work sets were:

45kg x5

52.5kg x5

60kg x5+ (I did 8).

 

Followed this up with 5x10 DB press at 2x22kg, assisted pull-ups with 35kg (and then dropped down to 42kg when I started failing), assisted dips @ 25kg, and finished off with some bro-curls (which was fun, not had time to fit them in for a while but I decided to make them a priority rather than an extra 5mins chillout time before work).  It felt like a good session, and seems to have set me up well for the rest of the day.

 

Not much else to add for the rest of the day - did some overtime, went for my walk after work, collect this week's Tesco order, and now just chilling on the sofa and pottering round the internet on my laptop.  Hoping for a nice calm, quiet week to reestablish some decent routines and habits.

[Big_Show]

First day of my tracking week!  Not many actual weeks of the challenge left too, it turns out, but I'll get there eventually.

 

The week starts off with another little drop to 111.4kg, so just over 2kg heavier than before my birthday.   Definitely focussed on Operation 105kg.

 

Started off this morning with a walk up to the gym to spend half an hour on the bike before work while listening to a podcast, then got my head down and ploughed on through work.  In a bid to make it easier to concentrate and decrease my screen time I ended up deleting Twitter a few weeks ago (somehow my feed had just become nonstop bile and arguments), and this week I've made the conscious decision to decrease my FB usage as well for similar reasons.  So many people having incredibly strong opinions about subjects they have very little knowledge on, and then the FURY when someone has a different one... I've definitely pruned and unfollowed a few pages and people.  Still find myself automatically opening it up and random intervals despite myself though, then swearing and closing it again!

 

Instagram is much nicer.  It's all food, fitness inspiration, cartoons, and dogs.  I've definitely curated that feed a lot better.

 

ANYWAY, after work I headed out for walkies - I'm making these a priority again now I'm back on the weight-loss train, and tonight my loop kept gradually getting extended until I had done about 2.5miles.  Helps having an interesting show playing in my ears I guess!

 

My food choices have been good today so I should be under target by the end of the day, although as dinner is homemade pizzas (topped with bacon, sweetcorn, and red onions carmelised in balsamic vinegar) I'm fully prepared for the carbs to make the scales spike up again tomorrow.  I'll be at the gym in the morning and tomorrow night's dinner is a much lower-carb affair so it's definitely not bother if they do.

 

Although obviously I'd rather they don't.  But it's ok if they do.  But hopefully they won't.  Etc, etc...

[Big_Show]

Update: 100% worth any subsequent scale fluctuations:

 

 

 

Should have mentioned - my future inlaws gave me a pizza stone for my birthday and I've been itching to try it out, this was using a premade ball of dough from the supermarket freezer section. Will be making again!

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

[Big_Show]

4 hours ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

And it was gooooooood...

 

Weight 112.0kg today, as predicted. Totally worth it.

 

Wanted to deadlift this morning but apparently sleeping is enough to put my back out these days, so it's back on the bike again instead...