[Gemma]

Oh, bother. 

 

I was not planning to challenge in this round. I thought perhaps I would just lurk and cheer other folks on, because I don't really have a lot going on except "keep doing what I'm already doing." 

 

But having accountability and friends to cheer is always good

 

 

 

and there are a few things that I ought to probably bother about

 

 

 

 

 

Walk like Eeyore

Walk for 15 minutes every day. Ideally in the evening, with dog. On days that schedule or weather makes that impractical, around the campus at lunchtime or even around the inside of the large academic building. 

 

I'm  depressed, have been for a while, and I didn't even realize it until I started throwing pity parties for myself about things that simply didn't warrant them.  

 

 

 

Walking helps.  And it's spring, generally nice weather (wicked humid, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ), and I have a walk-friendly neighborhood and a beautiful walking path around the campus. 

 

 

 

 

Bounce like Tigger

Nothing fancy here. Keep doing IS 3 or 4 days a week. There's a fair bit of jumping in IS. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eat like Rabbit 

A salad a day. 

 

 

 

I have vegetable ... issues. I don't eat nearly enough of them. I feel much better when I do eat enough of them. There are some I even like. But the easiest and surest way for me to get a reasonable amount of vegetation into my bod is salad, which I both like and find easy and convenient to make. 

 

 

 

That's enough for now. 

 

 

[Elastigirl]

Cheering you on!

[Mad Hatter]

Also here to cheer you on!

 

 

Sorry you've not been feeling well lately. Hope the spring vibes and outside time will help.  

[sarakingdom]

Out of curiosity, how is your:

 

[Epsilonte]

Also here to cheer on you

[Gemma]

3 hours ago, sarakingdom said:

Out of curiosity, how is your:

 

 

 

Hmmm. As good as it's ever been? I keep very regular hours, go to bed between 8:00 and 8:30 to read, lights out by 9:00, and wake at 5:00 pretty much every day. I've fought insomnia my whole adult life, so I've got my sleep hygiene really well locked down, and melatonin helps me a lot with the initial falling asleep bit. But I wake up a lot in the night, at least 3 times every night, sometimes 5 or 6. I'm working with a doctor on that, just started a new med, so in 'wait and see' mode about if that helps. 

[Gemma]

So far so good. 

 

Day one - walked doggie, had a salad for lunch and a salad with dinner. 

 

Did IS this morning. I am pretty sure I actually am getting stronger, at least in some movements. Sloooowwwwwwly but surely. I'm weirdly starting to look forward to the days that I can squeeze a 30 minute session into my life instead of a 15. 

 

 

[Harriet]

I hope your walks banish the depression! And that you have honey on your salads. 😊

 

[Gemma]

21 hours ago, Harriet said:

I hope your walks banish the depression! And that you have honey on your salads. 😊

 

 

 

LOL ... hmmm, I might try that. Or at least change up my usual raspberry vinaigrette with some occasional honey-mustard dressing 🤔. I do always put honey on my oatmeal in the mornings. 

 

Day 2: 

Walked w/ doggo.  Salad with lunch and with dinner. Didn't have any IS scheduled for today due to a ridiculously early dentist appointment - started to do a quick HIIT-like thing but I was super fatigued (more wake than sleep last night) and my form went to garbage halfway through so I just didn't bother. 

 

 

[Artemis Prime]

On 5/9/2022 at 11:24 AM, Gemma said:

I'm weirdly starting to look forward to the days that I can squeeze a 30 minute session into my life instead of a 15.

That is great! So much more sustainable when you find things you enjoy, even if you're not really sure why you enjoy them.

[Epsilonte]

A dentist appointment is a great reason for not doing as much. At least I am always dead after those... xD Hope everything there is well?  

[Gemma]

19 hours ago, Artemis Prime said:

That is great! So much more sustainable when you find things you enjoy, even if you're not really sure why you enjoy them.

It really is. I think this is the longest I've ever stuck with a program or workout plan in my life except when I was paying more than I could easily afford for a weightlifting coach. I've been doing GMB for about 8 months now and I'm not bored yet, which is frankly kinda weird for me. 
 

19 hours ago, Epsilonte said:

A dentist appointment is a great reason for not doing as much. At least I am always dead after those... xD Hope everything there is well?  

All is well, was just a cleaning and check-up, but because covid + staffing shortages it was stupidly hard to get an appointment so I had to settle for one that was way too early in the morning by my way of reckoning. 

 

Day 3:

Salad with lunch, dinner had lots of intrinsic veggies so I didn't bother (sheet pan roast w/ chicken, sweet potatoes, brussels sprouts, onion, bell pepper, with a garlic butter sauce )

Walked the doggie

IS this morning  

I took video of myself trying to do a negative chin-up - I welcome any suggestion for how to get stronger in the bottom half of this, where it all just kind of collapses.  All I can think to do is a lot of inverted rows with ultra-slow negatives.  I'm trying not to get super-duper frustrated about my lack of progress in chin-ups, but it does seem that I've been at this for a heck of a long time without any apparent getting-betterishness.

 

 

[Harriet]

I have no idea about pull ups, sorry! How long have you been doing the negatives?

[Mad Hatter]

On 5/9/2022 at 6:24 PM, Gemma said:

Did IS this morning. I am pretty sure I actually am getting stronger, at least in some movements. Sloooowwwwwwly but surely. I'm weirdly starting to look forward to the days that I can squeeze a 30 minute session into my life instead of a 15. 

Noice! Your consistency with GMB is sooo impressive!

 

2 hours ago, Gemma said:

I took video of myself trying to do a negative chin-up - I welcome any suggestion for how to get stronger in the bottom half of this, where it all just kind of collapses.  All I can think to do is a lot of inverted rows with ultra-slow negatives.  I'm trying not to get super-duper frustrated about my lack of progress in chin-ups, but it does seem that I've been at this for a heck of a long time without any apparent getting-betterishness.

A few ideas in no particular order, you can combine them too

 

1 -  speed up the first bit of the movement so you have a bit of oomph left for the bottom portion. It could be that you're simply pooping out after the first super slow part. Which is awesome btw, you look STRONK!

2 - use your tip toes for a bit of extra support

3 - start the negative halfway

4 - do hangs at various angles in the bottom section, so hang with your arms locked off first at 90 degrees, then maybe at 60 and 30. 

 

Are you only working on negatives or in the other direction too?

[Gemma]

18 hours ago, Harriet said:

I have no idea about pull ups, sorry! How long have you been doing the negatives?

 

On the one hand, I would say "forever!" - like, legit, 4 or 5 years. 

But on the other hand, none of that has been consistent. The pattern is "commit to actually getting a pull-up/chin-up, work my butt off with negatives or bands or whatever for 6 weeks or so, get angry at slow progress, give up and go chase another goal." 

 

So, this time around, actually about 6 weeks. The 'time to give up, this isn't working' demons in my head are starting to grumble. I'm ignoring them better this time  

 

17 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

Noice! Your consistency with GMB is sooo impressive!

 

A few ideas in no particular order, you can combine them too

 

1 -  speed up the first bit of the movement so you have a bit of oomph left for the bottom portion. It could be that you're simply pooping out after the first super slow part. Which is awesome btw, you look STRONK!

2 - use your tip toes for a bit of extra support

3 - start the negative halfway

4 - do hangs at various angles in the bottom section, so hang with your arms locked off first at 90 degrees, then maybe at 60 and 30. 

 

Are you only working on negatives or in the other direction too?

 

Great suggestions! I'll try a couple of them tomorrow after warm-up but before I start the session, so I'm at it while still relatively energized. 

 

For now it is just negatives and what GMB calls "Pulling Prep" and other folks call a "Pull-up Shrug."  The program calls for me to jump to the top position and then lower slowly, I've never yet gotten anywhere near being able to jump to the top position, much less the recent upgrade of jumping up halfway and then pulling the rest. All I've ever managed with the jump attempts is to make my elbows very very angry, hence the step stool.  

 

That step stool might be useful for assistance from my tippy toes, though.  

 

 

 

[Elastigirl]

One thing that really helped me was doing the negatives and then also doing sets of assisted or rows. That looks like doing the three sets of negatives, and then  after resting, three more sets of band assisted or rows. I'm also wondering if my consistent use of the rowing machine helped. Or maybe it's just after several years of consistency, it all started to work together.

[Gemma]

5 hours ago, Elastigirl said:

 Or maybe it's just after several years of consistency, it all started to work together.

 

I really feel as though ^therein^ lies my problem. "Several years of consistency" ≠ "try for 6 - 8 weeks / get frustrated / quit trying for three months / start over."  My actual major weakness seems like it might be in my stick with it/trust the process muscles. 

 

 

[Artemis Prime]

8 hours ago, Gemma said:

what GMB calls "Pulling Prep" and other folks call a "Pull-up Shrug."

I found these most helpful when I combined them with assisted pull ups. So instead of just doing the shrugs, I'd do a shrug and then follow through the rest of the way above the bar with assistance, if that makes sense. Essentially, I was doing assisted chin ups, but  I was strict about starting the movement with just my arms and then adding the assistance at whatever point it became necessary to finish the movement. I think that's what finally tipped me off on how to activate my shoulders properly and actually use them throughout the rep, as opposed to doing endless assisted chin ups where it was actually my legs doing all the trickiest bits.

[Sovalis]

Trusting the process is the hardest thing. I wish you success with this round of attempts! 

[Elastigirl]

6 hours ago, Gemma said:

Several years of consistency" ≠ "try for 6 - 8 weeks / get frustrated / quit trying for three months / start over."  My actual major weakness seems like it might be in my stick with it/trust the process muscles. 

 

\Yeah, I should clarify, I didn;t work on them for several years straight, I did have breaks. I think My average was about 8 weeks, and then I would do other things, and then ca me back. If you are doing GMB exercises (monkey, frogger, etc) even if you aren't directly working on pull ups. I think it still helps.  Maybe not as much if you just  worked  on  chin ups for 6 months. 

[Mad Hatter]

On 5/12/2022 at 2:16 PM, Gemma said:

For now it is just negatives and what GMB calls "Pulling Prep" and other folks call a "Pull-up Shrug."  The program calls for me to jump to the top position and then lower slowly, I've never yet gotten anywhere near being able to jump to the top position, much less the recent upgrade of jumping up halfway and then pulling the rest. All I've ever managed with the jump attempts is to make my elbows very very angry, hence the step stool.  

Based on how controlled the top section is I don't think strength is a problem at all with the jumps, I think it's a timing thing. But you don't need those anyway, and the step stool is an excellent tweak! No point in getting angry elbows. Do they get angry both in chin up and pull up grip? Could be worth experimenting with as well.

 

On 5/12/2022 at 4:41 PM, Elastigirl said:

One thing that really helped me was doing the negatives and then also doing sets of assisted or rows. That looks like doing the three sets of negatives, and then  after resting, three more sets of band assisted or rows.

Great way to increase volume. 

 

22 hours ago, Gemma said:

My actual major weakness seems like it might be in my stick with it/trust the process muscles. 

Sigh. I feel this so hard. But you're doing amazing right now, it's very inspiring! You'll get there.  

 

21 hours ago, Artemis Prime said:

I found these most helpful when I combined them with assisted pull ups. So instead of just doing the shrugs, I'd do a shrug and then follow through the rest of the way above the bar with assistance, if that makes sense. Essentially, I was doing assisted chin ups, but  I was strict about starting the movement with just my arms and then adding the assistance at whatever point it became necessary to finish the movement. I think that's what finally tipped me off on how to activate my shoulders properly and actually use them throughout the rep, as opposed to doing endless assisted chin ups where it was actually my legs doing all the trickiest bits.

I like this. This is also why I prefer to stand on tippy toes as assistance versus band, at least for me it's much easier to control to amount of assistance as I don't get the rebound effect.

[Gemma]

Thank you! Y'all are awesome! 

 

Yesterday was a Resilience day, but I added in some more negatives with tippy-toe assistance in the bottom half and some shrugs.  Also made the command decision that my office door doesn't need to be closed all day so I can just leave my pull-up bar in place all the time instead of putting it up and taking it down every time.  That is making some 'grease the groove' type work more feasible - I can just do a couple of toe-assisted negatives, or some shrugs, or some combination thereof, whenever I walk by.  

 

 

58 minutes ago, Mad Hatter said:

 No point in getting angry elbows. Do they get angry both in chin up and pull up grip? Could be worth experimenting with as well.

 

 

Good question. When they demonstrated them in GMB they always just show chin-up grip so that's really all I've attempted. I'll give some variations a try when I get home this evening. 

 

I do know that the shrugs are very doable in pull-up grip, a fair bit harder in neutral/parallel grip, and really really hard in chin-up grip.  

 

 

 

Day what are we on now? 6, I think - update: 

 

I'm weirdly not sick of salads yet. Dinner last night was pizza with salad, lunch today was leftover pizza with salad. There won't be one tonight because I've got tuna steaks marinating at home and a frozen bag of broccoli, carrots, and butternut squash to roast with them. 

 

I've missed my walks the past two days because the weather has been awful; I don't mind too much about rain but gale-force winds are a dealbreaker. I did say that I would walk around the inside of my building when the weather was bad but I never remember that during the workday. Also, that is BORING. 

 

Tomorrow will be my 3rd IS workout for this week. 

 

Tomorrow  

[Alanna]

Glad to have you here for this challenge! I hope the goals help mood-wise, too.

 

I agree that your pull-up negative is looking really strong! And I think you've already gotten great advice about variations for spending more time in that position (e.g., through holds, assisted pull-ups/negatives, and scapular shrugs). Filming is a great idea for tracking your progress, too 

[Mad Hatter]

On 5/13/2022 at 10:08 PM, Gemma said:

I do know that the shrugs are very doable in pull-up grip, a fair bit harder in neutral/parallel grip, and really really hard in chin-up grip.  

Oh interesting. For most people the chin-up grip is the easiest, maybe that's why GMB teaches that first? Though maybe you're a weirdo like me who finds pull-up easier.  

[Gemma]

On 5/15/2022 at 12:13 PM, Mad Hatter said:

Oh interesting. For most people the chin-up grip is the easiest, maybe that's why GMB teaches that first? Though maybe you're a weirdo like me who finds pull-up easier.  

 

 

Well, I'm definitely some type of weirdo. But that hand position variety of weird seems to only apply to the shrugs - I can pull my shoulders down away from my ears pretty easily if I'm hanging with a pull-up grip, but it's a huge massive struggle the other way. Once I get past that sticky point, though, and start bending my elbows, the chin-up gets to be easier than the pull-up. I think part of the problem is as simple as figuring out where to put my upper arms to keep my elbows in tight in front of me so I don't put so much strain on them - I can't hold the exact position the guys do, because boobs. 😅

 

 

I didn't wrap up Week 1 properly, but it was a good week. I walked almost every day except the two with the 40+ mph winds, ate a LOT of salad, and got all my workouts in. I took a vacation day yesterday and had a date day with the hubs, so today I'm gearing up to go back to work. That is starting to feel like more of a chore ever week, and random thoughts of retirement are beginning to float through my brain pan.  I become eligible for full retirement in March of next year, but I always thought I'd keep this job until I turn 62. Now I'm not so sure.  

 

I've been doing a LOT of shrugs, 5 or so every time I get near my pull-up bar, and at least once a day putting the step stool up so I can do a few full chin ups with a super slow negative with assistance from my toesies. I am really having a hard time keeping my shoulders pulled down the whole time, so that's where I'm putting most of my focus. Seems to be helping - bits of the movement that felt impossible last week now seem only extremely difficult.