[Artemis Prime]

Hello, everyone! I am Artemis Prime, level 4 Life Domain cleric, but by the end of this challenge, I plan to be level 5! Before we get into that though, a review of my high-tier 2024 goals:

 

1. Become an Ordained Deacon in the ACNA

Things might be a little slower here this challenge. I finish my spring class this week, then will have a week off before summer class starts. My Parish Discernment Committee is wrapped up, so the next step is meeting with the Diocesan Council, and I'm not sure how quickly that is going to get scheduled. 

 

2. Strength GainZ

I want to spend the summer really focusing on increasing my pull ups and push ups, but I've been spending a lot of money lately and so am going to wait until next challenge to order the weighted vest I want to use for that. I just joined a gym though, and am riding high on the fun honeymoon phase, so this challenge is going to be all about familiarizing myself with the equipment there, and prepping for the summer with lots of lat pulldowns and chest presses. The goal is at least twice a week, possibly three if scheduling permits, and I always have the option of using my home weights if I can't get to the gym.

 

Running-wise, I want to start adding speedwork back into my routine. For this challenge, the goal is speedwork once per week. Week One I will also gauge my mile time (wanted to do it in Zero Week, but 5k timing threw that off) and see if/how it changes by the end of the challenge.

 

3. Finish Barndominium

Progress has been slow here lately, but is picking up as the weather improves. Focus continues to be on staining, and interior stall walls, which are almost done, so then barn ceiling will be next on the list. Once the staining is done, I want to get the soffit and flashing on. And then put the deck up.  And THEN, finally, I'll be ready to start finishing my apartment. I hope my horses appreciate how much higher their living space is on the list than mine.

[Artemis Prime]

Actual challenge mechanics remain unchanged. 

 

Combat - 10 points per workout. Melee attack for a workout, ranged attack for a run, if I miss speedwork or do fewer than two workouts a week, the Dread Warrior gets to attack. 

 

Exploration - 1 point per mile for running, hiking, or biking.

 

Social - 20 points per social outing.
Saturday is tentatively the first session of my first in-person TTRPG game since college! I am very excited. I shall be playing Kallista, a half-elf foundling who was raised by druids until a lumber baron threatened their sacred grove. She made a pact with the Archey Oberon for the power to defend the grove. She ended up using her new power to kill the lumber baron, which horrified the druidic circle. Since she isn't really cut out for the druid life, she struck out on her own and is now a wandering warlock, searching for her place in the world.

 

Cantrips - 1 point per casting. Am making a few tweaks here.

Light -  Was originally get up without snoozing, but I think it can be helpful to have that, laying in bed processing the plan for the day time, so I moved my alarm to  earlier and the goal is to be up at 6.

Word of Radiance - Still morning devotions, but since I've been struggling with Morning Prayer, I'm going to take a break from it and use Daily Bread devotionals for a little while. For this specific cantrip, I will not be battling the Dread Warrior, but rather, the Imp.

 

Mending - Regular preventative maintenance type stuff.

Toll the Dead - instrument time

 

Spells - 10 points per casting per spell level. 

 

Channel Divinity - 10 points per use

Turn Undead - Get rid of things, either trash or donate. I want to tackle my closet next, Mother's Day is next Sunday, after which I won't have a big old plant stand stashed in there, so I'll be able to get more serious about cleaning it out.

Preserve Life - Canning, which is a pretty seasonal thing, probably won't be happening this challenge.

[Artemis Prime]

Right, point goal. I enter the challenge with 5,393 points, and want to hit level 5 at 6,500 points by the end of this challenge. I got 79 points for Zero Week, plus whatever I earn today, so that leaves me with needing right around 200 points per week to make my goal. A bit of a stretch with just challenge points, but killing a few Imps or Dread Warriors will put a big dent in that. The Dread Warrior is already down 6 hit points thanks to the sling attack I made after my 5k on Saturday.

[sylph]

On 5/5/2024 at 7:32 AM, Artemis Prime said:

I want to tackle my closet next, Mother's Day is next Sunday, after which I won't have a big old plant stand stashed in there, so I'll be able to get more serious about cleaning it out.

This made me cackle.

 

Here for leveling up to 5!

[Artemis Prime]

26 minutes ago, sylph said:

This made me cackle.

 

Here for leveling up to 5!

Always happy to have you, and to provide some good laughs.

[Artemis Prime]

Week One Plan: (Side note, I didn't really plan my weeks last challenge, which I think was part of what made me lose track of what I was doing. Things might change, but I'll at least go into it with a plan.)

Monday - Gym on lunch break. Zoom meeting for church tonight. Shouldn't be long, will aim to do some cleaning as well.

Tuesday - Spiritual Direction on my lunch break. Possibly dinner with my sister, although I haven't confirmed that with her. 

Wednesday - Office book club on lunch break. Probably helping my neighbor after work.

Thursday - Noon Eucharist. Barn work later, although they're calling for storms.

Friday - Altar guild on lunch break. Final class in the evening.

Saturday - Final assignment due. Home workout. Tentatively D&D.

Sunday - Teach Sunday school, mile test, sprints.

[sylph]

1 minute ago, Artemis Prime said:

I didn't really plan my weeks last challenge, which I think was part of what made me lose track of what I was doing.

This definitely makes a difference for me as well. Thanks for the reminder!

[Sovalis]

Here for this! 😁

[Artemis Prime]

17 hours ago, Sovalis said:

Here for this! 😁

Hi!

 

 

22 hours ago, Artemis Prime said:

Things might change,

Well that didn't take long.

 

First off, I forgot that Sunday was Mother's Day, so running might be tricky to fit in. Will do it Saturday instead. I might do my home lifting Saturday as well, but that's easier to sneak in during other stuff than running is, so I might bump that to Sunday.

Also old work friends invited me out Friday night. It means I'll be crunched for time rushing from work to the bar to home for class, but I do really want to go because I do enjoy hanging out with them, but having a hard out time is also helpful because they often end up staying till closing, and that's not my jam.

 

For yesterday, I was a little late getting up, so no Light point, but I did do Word of Radiance. The Daily Bread devotionals are fine, but not exactly what I was looking for, so I will finish the 10 days I have and then try something else.

Also went to the gym yesterday for my first actually planned workout there. I did supersets of lat pull down and chest press for 5 sets, then 3 rounds of bicep curls and tricep extensions. That filled my allotted time pretty much exactly, so two main lifts and two accessories is apparently going to be my outline for lunch break workouts. 

 

So for this first 7 week cycle of the Stronger by Science programming, my workouts will look like this:

Day 1: Lat Pull Downs, Chest Press

                Bicep Curls, Tricep Extensions

Day 2: Squats, Cable Fly

               DB Press, Shrugs (or scapular retractions)

Day 3 (if 3rd gym day): Deadlift, Row

                                                   Lateral Raise, Incline Press

Home workout: Deadlift, Split Squat, Push Up, Pull Up (Definitely if only 1 gym day, maybe if 2 gym days, definitely not if 3 gym days)

 

My only real disappointment with the gym thus far is the lack of a squat rack. They do have a smith machine, so my chest press and gym squats will be in there. I'm not as anti-machine as I used to be (I mostly picked that up from NF, and Steve just sent an email yesterday saying he has also changed his mind on this) but the smith machine does have some pros and cons. Pro - because my stabilizer muscles are mostly taken out of the move, the primary target muscles can really be worked as the limiting factor. Con - because my stabilizer muscles are mostly taken out of the move, they don't get to work. So I'm adding split squats into my home workout day to have a squat day without the smith machine (not concerned about it with the chest press because there's plenty of other pressing in my schedule) but the speedwork I'm planning to do might also give my quads all the work they need, so if my legs start to get too fried, I'll drop the home squats.

 

I would like to really shoot for 2 gym days per week. This week it isn't happening, but that should be an anomaly. My Spiritual Direction meeting, office book club, a noon Eucharist, and my turn at altar guild all just fell on the same week. In contrast, next week looks like I could go all 5 days if I wanted to, although I'll cap it at 3 (or maybe even 2 if the weather is really nice so I can get some outside time in.)

[Elastigirl]

Way to roll with your schedule. Glad you are enjoying the gym!

[Sepherina]

Here to follow dear neighbor!  And I can’t wait to see all the barn pictures when it is done! 

[Artemis Prime]

On 5/7/2024 at 11:49 AM, Elastigirl said:

Glad you are enjoying the gym!

Me too! I'm glad I went ahead and joined instead of waiting for the fall, because I was in a pretty good groove all winter with my workouts, and I'd hate to lose that over the summer, which I would with just home workouts.

 

4 hours ago, Sepherina said:

Here to follow dear neighbor!  And I can’t wait to see all the barn pictures when it is done! 

Always a pleasure to have you! Classes are definitely cutting into my barn building time, blow slowly and surely it's coming along.

[Artemis Prime]

Week 1 is rolling right along rather busily.  Light points have been few and far between, but I'm getting Morning Prayer done, so I'm not sure how much that matters. Tuesday I had my spiritual direction meeting, which I always enjoy. Becoming a spiritual director is on my list of things to look into once I've fully settled into my deacon role. And speaking of, the vestry has approved the parish discernment committee's report, so the next step is to submit it to the bishop. Yesterday I helped my neighbor after work, which wiped me out for the rest of the day.

 

Today I get to go straight home after work (well, quick pit stop to grab some broccoli and cauliflower) so I'm going to work on class stuff and do some cleaning and maybe also lift. I was planning that for the weekend, but I think I was basing it off a 2 gym-day week, where the home lift would need to be Saturday, but since this week isn't a 2 gym-day week, no reason I can't do it tonight. 

 

On the subject of lifting, I've been following Renaissance Periodization on YouTube lately, and recently watched a video where he talks about how you get your biggest gains (or gainZ, as I like to spell it) and really it just comes down to pushing yourself fairly hard on a consistent basis over a long period of time. Which is hardly breaking news, but something about the way he presented it just really clicked and made me relax about my whole approach to lifting. Professional competitors need to make sure they are doing everything optimally to reach their goals. But if your goals are just to get stronger and be healthier, you just have to do good enough, and I'm doing good enough. 

 

And to continue the lifting epiphanies, I was also reading some of Stronger by Science's materials on what determines how strong we can possibly get, and most of the factors are things like genetics that are outside of our control, but the one that we can deliberately increase is muscle size. I've never been concerned about getting "too bulky," but my primary motivation for working out has always been strength, and since optimal strength gains are in the 3-6 rep range, I was always very resistant to do anything more than that. But at some point, your muscles can't get stronger unless they get bigger, and hypertrophy rep ranges are anything from 5-30, but usually in the 10-15 or even 20 rep range. Which is why periodization exists, you do volume phases to increase size and work capacity, peaking phases for max strength gains, deloading phases to manage fatigue. Which again, I already knew, but for some reason this time it hit me that, oh, just because hypertrophy is not my main goal does not mean I should never work in hypertrophic rep ranges. The SbS program I'm following right now mostly has me working in the 5-7 rep range, with some higher volume work, so I'm not going to overhaul everything to the 15-20 rep range, but it's something I'm pondering for future program cycles.

[Sovalis]

That is all good information on subjects I know very little about. Thank you for sharing. Glad your spiritual direction meeting went well and things are on the way to the Bishop! That is exciting!

[Artemis Prime]

1 hour ago, Sovalis said:

That is all good information on subjects I know very little about. Thank you for sharing.

Glad you're finding it useful. I did have a typo in my post, which I wasn't going to worry about, but I don't want to be spreading misinformation, so for the record, best hypertrophy results typically come in the 5-30 rep range, not 3-30. Possibly falls under that "recreational lifters just need to be good enough" margin of error, but I feel better having corrected it.

[Artemis Prime]

Morning, all! Had a very busy but very good weekend. I had so much fun with my old work friends Friday. We were definitely exhibiting the humor of junior high kids, but I laughed so hard it hurt. I've got other people I enjoy hanging out with, but I didn't realize until I was in the middle of it how much I was missing just the stupid silliness that we get into together. The main reason I pulled back a bit from spending time with them was because I didn't really like how much they drank or, to be more exact, how much I drank when I was with them. But Friday we had something to eat, a little to drink, and we were all out of there super early compared to the old days. I was home in plenty of time to finish up my last class. All around, a very good time.

 

Saturday I busted out my new Brroks I said I wasn't allowed to use until I completed my 5k and did a track workout. Ran a mile in 8:22, which I did not expect, although I was pushing much harder than I usually do when I run, which is another dimension of my summer of speedwork - not just physically getting faster but mentally practicing really pushing myself. Since I lift alone, I'm very conservative about going to failure, so I've gotten out of the habit of really testing my limits, and it felt good to push as far as I possibly could. After a bit of rest I did some 100m sprints, and I've decided that I don't really like my Fitbit for speedwork. The face is too small, and no external buttons means there's too much delay in getting up the information I want or starting and stopping (mostly stopping) the time exactly when I want to check it. So the old Garmin once again gets to come out of retirement.

 

Saturday afternoon was my first in-person D&D game since college! Considering none of us knew each other, I thought it went very well. The DM doesn't lean too hard into the narrative side of the game, so we did a brief little handwave of why are we forming a party? (helped that gnolls attacked in the middle of our meetup - fighting together is a great unifier) and then we set off to explore a dungeon together. Still some rough edges to smooth over as we get to know each other (both as players and as characters) but I think it's going to work out pretty well and I had a lot of fun. We played for 5 hours and honestly it did not feel like it at all - time just flew on by. Next session will either be May 25 or June 1, and I cannot wait!

 

Sunday I had church, taught Sunday School, then was very busy getting my grandma, cooking Mother's Day dinner, cleaning up Mother's Day dinner, taking my grandma back home, but it was a very good day for the moms in the family.

 

Non-challenge related, 2 more Primes entered the world this weekend! My sister-in-law had her twins on Friday night. 2 girls, both tiny and adorable.

 

Lots of well-earned social points, plus spells and workouts and cantrips. Total of 172 points for the week. 

[Artemis Prime]

Week 2 Plan:

Monday - gym day, picking up chickens tonight, getting them settled will probably be the bulk of my evening.

Tuesday - Dinner with my sister, probably

Wednesday - Helping my neighbor, probably

Thursday - gym day, hopefully barn work if weather is decent

Friday - cleaning day, start to tackle closet

Saturday - last Bible study before summer break, barn work

Sunday - last Sunday school before summer break, run

 

Turns out this week isn't quite as not-busy as I thought it was going to be, but still should have plenty of time to clean, do barn work, and chill. If my class books show up, might go ahead and get a jump on readings. But also planning to intentionally set some time aside this week for fun reading, too. Church groups are going on summer break after this week, so that will free up time moving forward as well.

[Artemis Prime]

Gym day yesterday! Still in the trial and error process. Lat pull downs felt way harder on my biceps than my lats, so need to continue playing with form to figure out how to really hit the target muscle. Smith machine bench press, on the other hand, went really well. Figuring out where to be on the bench to keep my elbows happy, and my pecs are a little tender today, so they were  working.

 

Got my peeps yesterday, and still managed to get a decent bit of staining done. My dad is losing patience with my cat (understandable, since she's getting into stuff, but also I brought her home to be a barn cat - he's the one who turned her into a house cat) but the point is, apartment construction might need stepped up a notch. Which is sort of related but sort of not to the next point - my small group host sent out an email yesterday about meeting this week. We've barely met all year, so I feel bad about not going when they're available to host, but this was supposed to be a chill week for me, so I think I'm going to pass on it.

 

Running some errands at lunch today, having dinner with my sister tonight. I have a bag of clothes I keep meaning to get rid of, but I just can't remember to grab it on days I'm going to be by the donation box. It's really not that far away, so I might just have to make a special trip out there to get rid of it.

[sylph]

13 minutes ago, Artemis Prime said:

Lat pull downs felt way harder on my biceps than my lats, so need to continue playing with form to figure out how to really hit the target muscle

If you want suggestions on stuff to try for this, let me know. Lats are hard.

[Artemis Prime]

3 minutes ago, sylph said:

If you want suggestions on stuff to try for this, let me know. Lats are hard.

I am totally open to suggestions. So far I've had the best luck hitting the lats using the platform cable machine. I can position myself to pull straight down instead of at an angle, which seems to be helpful. I do need to kneel to get full range of motion, which isn't a huge deal, it just means I need to fight a little to pull the weight down instead of pulling myself up. That's why I tried switching back to the actual lat machine yesterday, but it just doesn't seem to work for me. Oddly, I seemed to get a better lat stimulus using an underhand grip, even though I've always heard an overhand grip allows you to isolate the lats better.

[sylph]

It's a bit trial-and-error, since everyone's body mechanics are a bit different, but there are three cues that helped me when I was struggling with this:

• Use a thumbless grip. I use overhand, but you can try underhand if that seems to work better for you.
• Think of your hands as 'hooks'. As if they are passive things on the ends of your arms, rather than being actively involved in the lift.
• Initiate the pull 'from your elbows'. Your elbows are the things you are pulling down using your lats. Not the bar. Not your hands. You're pulling the bar down by moving your arms down, not by bending your elbows. The elbows bend more as an after effect of being a hinge, rather than your biceps actively moving your radius/ulna toward your humerus.

These are all somewhat the same thing, but looking at/thinking about it from a different angle or mindset.

 

If you had a trusted gym buddy, I'd also suggest having someone lightly rest a finger on your lats while you're doing the movement as this can also help focus on what you're doing, but impossible to do alone and kind of weird to as someone who isn't a close friend.

[Artemis Prime]

23 hours ago, sylph said:

It's a bit trial-and-error, since everyone's body mechanics are a bit different, but there are three cues that helped me when I was struggling with this:

• Use a thumbless grip. I use overhand, but you can try underhand if that seems to work better for you.
• Think of your hands as 'hooks'. As if they are passive things on the ends of your arms, rather than being actively involved in the lift.
• Initiate the pull 'from your elbows'. Your elbows are the things you are pulling down using your lats. Not the bar. Not your hands. You're pulling the bar down by moving your arms down, not by bending your elbows. The elbows bend more as an after effect of being a hinge, rather than your biceps actively moving your radius/ulna toward your humerus.

These are all somewhat the same thing, but looking at/thinking about it from a different angle or mindset.

 

If you had a trusted gym buddy, I'd also suggest having someone lightly rest a finger on your lats while you're doing the movement as this can also help focus on what you're doing, but impossible to do alone and kind of weird to as someone who isn't a close friend.

This is very helpful as I think it through, though I probably look a little ridiculous sitting at my desk pretending to do lat pulldowns. I already use a thumbless grip for underhand, which might be part of why that seems to work better for me, although it could also be that I've been training chin ups enough to engrain the correct movement pattern into them, but it hasn't yet carried over to an overhand grip.

I've also been using the cue "drive the elbows down" but I wonder if that's putting too much focus on my elbows, and as a result shifting the force to the biceps. Perhaps next time I'll think more about breaking at the shoulder first, kind of like how you think about breaking at the hip first for deadlifts. 

 

Thanks!

[sylph]

Hah! I can do pretend lat pulldowns at my desk and no one knows I look silly...except the cats. And given their shenanigans, they are in no place to judge.

 

Similar cues work for rows, too, if you have issues firing your lats for those. Or if you have cues that work for you for rows, see if they'll translate to the vertical movement.

[Artemis Prime]

17 hours ago, sylph said:

Or if you have cues that work for you for rows, see if they'll translate to the vertical movement.

Hmmm...I think we're onto something now! I do well with rows, with the cue to drive the elbows back and pinch the shoulder blades. I was trying to re-create that cue vertically with "drive the elbows down" which leaves me with the bar at my clavicle. I think I was trying to pull it lower, but at that point the lats can't do any more pulling, and it does transfer to the biceps to push the bar lower. Lat pull downs aren't on the menu today, but if I have time after my workout is done, I might play with this and see if stopping at my clavicle solves this problem.

 

Thanks for the back-and-forth, it's been very helpful!

[sylph]

Yeah, I'd say with lat pulldowns, the bar probably stops somewhere between my chin and my clavicle. (I say after doing pretend-lat-pulldowns at my desk) I don't know if there's any benefit beyond that (based on individual body morphometry, obvs)

 

Glad it was helpful! 

Nerd Fitness

...good for nerding

...good for fitness

...good for nerding about fitness