Crooked's Consistency

[Crooked]

So as it turns out, trying to start a challenge during law school final exams was a terrible idea, particularly when I had totally fallen off the fitness wagon due to an injury and was trying to get back into a regular workout schedule.  Now that I'm on winter break, I'm trying to come up with manageable goals, but unfortunately I have a TON of backlogged work that needs to get done between now and January 20. In order to get through everything over break and also get back into working out, I will need to be extremely organized. I am tracking a lot of information via Evernote and Google Drive already, so I decided to transition into a mini-challenge for a little accountability. I'm going to try really hard to update this challenge daily or at the very least every other day. It's a short one so I hope it will be doable and I won't disappoint myself again.

 

For the last three days I have been working on getting back into exercising. I also have the now customary injury I'm trying to work on. Finally, I have a big academic assignment due January 5. In short, my goals for this mini challenge are:

1. Gym 5x/week
2. Work on foot every day
3. Finish my Note draft

I'll elaborate on the goals once I have myself a little more organized. I'm working on a big Google Drive spreadsheet of my daily goals and big to-do list. The to-do list will extend beyond this mini challenge through all of break. My food and workouts will be tracked on Evernote and pasted here.

[Crooked]

Here are my workouts from the last three days. I can't remember the last time I went to the gym three days in a row. I told my boyfriend four days ago that I am no longer a person who exercises, and so this is me working on being a person who exercises. I am weak and feel shitty about it. I have no plan currently. I am basically just going in and doing what I feel like doing (except that I'm making myself erg to warm up). This all sounds stupid and counterintuitive but I think for now I just need to work on getting myself into the gym. I can deal with programming and organization and actually having any idea of what I want to accomplish later. For now I need to get myself back into the mindset of being a person who exercises. Everything else can come after.

 

December 21

Row 1k 4:20

 

Bench
45x5
65x5
75x5
80x5x5

 

Press
45x5
65x3
65x3
65x3
65x3
65x3

 

1 pull-up

 

Bicep curls
25x5/arm 25x5
25x5
25x5
25x5

 

2 chin-ups
2 chin-ups

 

Knees to elbows (except really armpits) cash out

December 22
Row 1k 4:15

Seated db press 30x5
Bent-over db row 40x6
Press
Row
Press
Row
Press
Row
Press
Row

Front squat
45x5
65x5
85x5
95x5
105x5
105x5
105x5
115
120
125

December 23
Row 1k 4:22

Bench
45x5
65x5
85x5x5
95x1
90x3
90x1
90x1
90x1

Deadlift
45x5
135x5
185x5
185x5
185x5

Bicep curls
25x5x5
 

Incidentally it is shitty to be this weak. Onward and upward!

[Loren Wade]

As always, glad to see you back. Some serious ass-kicking it looks like, too.

[Crooked]

As always, glad to see you back. Some serious ass-kicking it looks like, too.

 

How many times have I been welcomed back here? Hopefully here to stay now. Working on the ass-kicking part. I know this is meant to be a mini-challenge, but there's a lot to do!

[Loren Wade]

How many times have I been welcomed back here? Hopefully here to stay now. Working on the ass-kicking part. I know this is meant to be a mini-challenge, but there's a lot to do!

I don't blame you! School is a lot of work!!!

[Crooked]

I don't blame you! School is a lot of work!!!

It really is, particularly when you are the kind of person who is almost compulsively driven to say yes to new things that entail more work.

 

Not that I know anyone like that...

[EmCee]

Welcome back! Looks like a good three days keep it up and don't be too tough on yourself.

[Crooked]

Welcome back! Looks like a good three days keep it up and don't be too tough on yourself.

 

Thank you! I'm trying to cut myself some slack, but that doesn't come easily to me . . .

[Crooked]

December 23 recap

 

Food

remainder of paleo pumpkin pancakes (probably two small pancakes' worth)
one sweet potato
chia pudding with maple syrup
plantain/bacon/ground beef casserole
fish oil
1/4 apple
a few bites of slow cooker chuck roast
 

Definitely didn't eat enough today.

 

Fitness
Row 1k 4:22

Bench
45x5
65x5
85x5x5
95x1
90x3
90x1
90x1
90x1

Deadlift
45x5
135x5
185x5
185x5
185x5

Bicep curls
25x5x5

 

Foot

-slept in night boot

-did marble exercises

-soaked in warm water

-took ibuprofen

-took fish oil

-stretched

 

Life

-finished first book

-read 100 pages of second book

-sent a bunch of necessary e-mails

[CourtnieMarie]

i did miss reading about your foods. noms.

 

you've got a lot going on and i think your goal to get back to being a "person who exercises" is great. just get to the gym 5x/week and once that becomes habit you can figure out a program. great plan! although 5x/week actually sounds like a lot to me considering everything you have going on...

[Crooked]

i did miss reading about your foods. noms.

 

you've got a lot going on and i think your goal to get back to being a "person who exercises" is great. just get to the gym 5x/week and once that becomes habit you can figure out a program. great plan! although 5x/week actually sounds like a lot to me considering everything you have going on...

 

Well I am hoping/planning to have lots of delicious noms to write about throughout winter break — no reason to rely on takeout!

 

Yup, that's the idea. I know 5x/week sounds like a lot, but I really want to make this commitment to myself, and I think it's doable. "Gym" doesn't have to mean going to the gym, either. I have a yoga mat and kettlebells at home, so I can easily do a quick bodyweight/kettlebell workout if the gym isn't going to happen!

[Crooked]

December 24 so far

 

Food

4 eggs fried

small sweet potato cooked in coconut oil

fish oil

 

Fitness

Row 1k 4:19

Back squat
45x5
95x5
105x5
115x5
125x5
125x5
125x5
125x3
125x3

A little bit of knee pain. Think I let my knees go too far over my toes on one of the sets.

Chin-ups
3
2
2
2
1
Fail
Fail

Strict press
45x5
65x5
70x5
70x5
70x5
65x5
45x10

8 unbroken TTB cashout

1 more chin-up because I was annoyed that I failed before
 

[Crooked]

December 24 recap

 

Food

4 eggs fried

small sweet potato cooked in coconut oil

fish oil

beef/bacon/plantain casserole (with maple syrup on the plantains — oops)
coconut/gelatin pancakes w/ half a banana (http://empoweredsustenance.com/coconut-flour-pancakes-with-gelatin/) — the recipe has four eggs, gelatin, coconut flour, coconut oil and coconut milk, so it's pretty nutritionally awesome

apple cider gummies

 

Fitness

Row 1k 4:19

Back squat
45x5
95x5
105x5
115x5
125x5
125x5
125x5
125x3
125x3

A little bit of knee pain. Think I let my knees go too far over my toes on one of the sets.

Chin-ups
3
2
2
2
1
Fail
Fail

Strict press
45x5
65x5
70x5
70x5
70x5
65x5
45x10

8 unbroken TTB cashout

1 more chin-up because I was annoyed that I failed before

 

 

Foot

-slept in night boot

-did marble exercises

-soaked in warm water

-took ibuprofen

-took fish oil

-stretched

 

Life

-finished the book I wanted to read for my big writing assignment. Learned some INSANE things about the failures of the criminal justice system.

-tried two new recipes (well, cooked two things I hadn't cooked before). Both had gelatin, which I bought and then was too scared to use for a bit. The gummies didn't come from a recipe — I just heated up apple cider and added gelatin — but they were delicious!

 

I SO don't want to take a rest day tomorrow but (1) I planned it; (2) the gym is closed; and (3) I think my body needs it. But it feels so good to be sore from lifting again instead of just sore from sitting at my desk all day.

[Crooked]

Really struggling against not wanting to work on my paper right now. Just have to do about half an hour more for the evening, but the motivation is gone. I think it's a combination of going stir-crazy from not having seen another human since noon when I got back from the gym, feeling like what I'm writing is totally incoherent and being convinced that my work is unpublishable and therefore a colossal waste of time. Going to power through for that last half hour and then watch the end of Love Actually, which I started watching last night.

 

Merry Christmas to the friends who celebrate!

[CourtnieMarie]

I never regretted powering through my papers even though i thought i wasn't making sense! Its easier to edit later once you get it going. Good job

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Crooked]

I never regretted powering through my papers even though i thought i wasn't making sense! Its easier to edit later once you get it going. Good job

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Haha I am hoping to have a VERY productive editing experience.

[Brometheus]

So as it turns out, trying to start a challenge during law school final exams was a terrible idea, particularly when I had totally fallen off the fitness wagon due to an injury and was trying to get back into a regular workout schedule.  Now that I'm on winter break, I'm trying to come up with manageable goals, but unfortunately I have a TON of backlogged work that needs to get done between now and January 20. In order to get through everything over break and also get back into working out, I will need to be extremely organized. I am tracking a lot of information via Evernote and Google Drive already, so I decided to transition into a mini-challenge for a little accountability. I'm going to try really hard to update this challenge daily or at the very least every other day. It's a short one so I hope it will be doable and I won't disappoint myself again.

 

For the last three days I have been working on getting back into exercising. I also have the now customary injury I'm trying to work on. Finally, I have a big academic assignment due January 5. In short, my goals for this mini challenge are:

1. Gym 5x/week
2. Work on foot every day
3. Finish my Note draft

I'll elaborate on the goals once I have myself a little more organized. I'm working on a big Google Drive spreadsheet of my daily goals and big to-do list. The to-do list will extend beyond this mini challenge through all of break. My food and workouts will be tracked on Evernote and pasted here.

 

Good to see you here! 

[cline]

Ohai my friend!

[Crooked]

Good to see you here! 

 

Thank you! Good to be back.

 

Ohai my friend!

Hello hello!

[Crooked]

Today is my rest day. It's funny because as of Friday I hadn't worked out for more than a day or two at a time for months. So most days were "rest days," and I wasn't feeling all that antsy to get into the gym. But after four days of getting back into lifting, I really do want to be back in the gym — and it feels amazing to have the urge to work out again. Good thing it's closed today so I won't be tempted to overdo it, because I really do need to rest.

 

Relevant to this mini-challenge: http://library.crossfit.com/free/pdf/CFJ_12_2013_Holidays_Warkentin.pdf

 

We can all afford to lighten up over the holidays, and people who have been crushing it all year definitely deserve the relaxation time. But, as someone who really "let myself go" thanks to injury and overcommitment this past semester, this article is so pertinent to my current approach and mindset. I don't celebrate Christmas (being a barely practicing Jew), and I haven't been much of a drinker since college, so break for me is actually a time to lock down my eating and fitness and get back on track before second semester starts rather than a time to go crazy for a week (or month). I'm so grateful this challenge was made available, because I would have been "challenging" myself to be better either way, and this forum is always the best place for me to get some accountability.

 

I'm fighting against feeling bad against myself for how weak I am. I know that this is just what happens when you don't work out consistently for 5+ months, but sometimes the rational part of me that understands that concept gets drowned out by the part of me that just wants to be strong again now. I keep catching myself feeling bad about myself for being sore — thinking, "I shouldn't be sore after only deadlifting 185," or "I should be able to squat up to 125 without having trouble walking the next day." But if anyone else was expressing those thoughts about him or herself to me, I know my answer would be, "Don't be ridiculous — you just took five months off, and you need to cut yourself some slack!" So I'm working on cultivating that mentality for myself. It's a lot harder to be nice to oneself than to others. But I'm working on it.

 

Time to clean my apartment! Last weekend I did a bit of reorganizing, but I was inspired by all the cleaning-related serenity challenges popping up this week, and I want to make the surfaces look a little cleaner today.

[Crooked]

Doubt I am going to be able to post an update later in the day, because Boyfriend comes home this evening and he doesn't know about my NF habit Also, we're going to a friend's for Christmas dinner, so I don't know how much time I'll have for internetting this evening (particularly since I want to introduce Boyfriend to The West Wing when we get home). As such, going to write briefly about the day so far and write more of an update tomorrow.

 

December 25 so far

 

Food

4 eggs
2/3 small sweet potato
apple cider gummies
fish oil
coffee
tilapia filet cooked with Foxpoint seasoning, lemon juice, salt, butter
avocado

1/2 banana

 

Not sure what Christmas dinner is going to entail, but the friend preparing the meal knows about my gluten and dairy restrictions, so I'm optimistic that there will be yummy things that won't make me feel TOO terrible.
 

Fitness

Rest day — did some stretching.

 

Foot

-slept in night boot

-took ibuprofen

-took fish oil

-stretched

-soaked my foot in warm water

 

Life

-cooked some tilapia

-did some cleaning and reorganizing of apartment so it's a bit more user-friendly

-finished an article I planned to read yesterday

-worked on my Note

-having a bit of a stomach ache. Maybe too much gelatin?

[cline]

Going to a friend's house for dinner and then binge viewing high quality TV sounds like a perfect day off. 

[Crooked]

Going to a friend's house for dinner and then binge viewing high quality TV sounds like a perfect day off. 

 

It was wonderful. The food was delicious, the company was great, and the high-quality television was high quality.

[Crooked]

Didn't eat completely paleo last night, but everything I did have was gluten- and dairy-free. My friend had printed up this adorable menu explaining all the food in light of everyone's dietary restrictions (there was me, with my gluten and dairy restrictions, along with vegetarians and people who keep kosher).

 

When I got home I did my marble exercises and showed Boyfriend the first episode of The West Wing. I hope he's hooked because I really want to watch it with him!

 

December 26 so far

 

Food

paleo banana bread (my boyfriend and his mom adapted her famous banana bread recipe so I could eat it. How adorable is that??)

sweet potato cooked in ghee

4 eggs cooked in ghee

fish oil

 

Fitness

Row 1k 4:11.7

Chin-ups
1 chin-up every 30 seconds for 4:30 --> 10 chin-ups

Front squat
45x5
75x5
95x5
105x5
110x5x5

Barbell row
45x10
65x6
65x6
65x6
Foot started hurting

9 unbroken TTB cashout

1 chin-up
1 chin-up
1 chin-up
2 chin-ups
 

The chin-ups at the end were because I didn't really feel "done" with my workout and knew I would be itching to do more chin-ups later today anyway. I am starting to feel smoother on the erg. I'm still not trying to go particularly hard for my erg warmup, but the movement feels less awful, which is good. And without killing myself on it, I shaved seven seconds off my most recent 1K. Today's front squats were better than the ones from a few days ago, and progress is always good. Just going to work on having a positive attitude about getting back into the gym — I've done five workouts since I decided to become a person who works out again on Saturday, so that's pretty huge for me.

 

Also this accountability thing is awesome. I just forced myself to take my fish oil so I could write down that I'd taken my fish oil today

[Brometheus]

 

I'm fighting against feeling bad against myself for how weak I am. I know that this is just what happens when you don't work out consistently for 5+ months, but sometimes the rational part of me that understands that concept gets drowned out by the part of me that just wants to be strong again now. I keep catching myself feeling bad about myself for being sore — thinking, "I shouldn't be sore after only deadlifting 185," or "I should be able to squat up to 125 without having trouble walking the next day." But if anyone else was expressing those thoughts about him or herself to me, I know my answer would be, "Don't be ridiculous — you just took five months off, and you need to cut yourself some slack!" So I'm working on cultivating that mentality for myself. It's a lot harder to be nice to oneself than to others. But I'm working on it.

 

 

 

Thank you for taking the time to write this. I know it's hard. Hell, admitting you're "weak" is one of the hardest things out there...especially here, where we prize strength above all. 

 

But you know what? Don't feel bad. 

 

There's lots of things to celebrate during this time. 

 

I went through a bunch of similar stuff (injuries, at least), and nearly killed myself trying to squat 100#'s (silly, I know). Who knew having a tight pec minor would cause so much trouble?

 

It turns out that it leads to no use of your abs, and not recruiting your quads. Which means that your hips get f'd up and everything goes downhill...

 

And even after everything is "fixed", I'm squatting  5 @ 65, 5 @ 70, and 6 at 75. Which is hard, considering I squatted 330 last year, and pulled nearly the same (pulling 225~ right now, and let's not even talk about bench or ohp).

 

I may not be "strong", but my current lack of strength has proved useful in understanding some things. 

 

- I want to lift heavy weight. I decided I want to embrace the harder part of life. I'm determined to fight for what I want to achieve. I love that I'm actually enjoying myself through this process. 

 

- I love that I'm learning how to move correctly. I had my coach walk me through how to squat correctly (no, it's not as easy as it sounds after you break everything), and it looks hell of a lot better than something like this.

It's funny for me to realize that I'm setting new pr's and moving better, and it's soooo exciting! I started crossfit so soon after discovering lifting (two years ago) that all of this is a foreign experience! 

 

- I'm starting to realize how important accessory movements are. I'm discovering that it's not about reps or weight with the accessory, but real movement and time under tension. Yeah, it's bodybuilder talk, but paying attention to John Meadows or 5/3/1's accessory movements never made anyone weak. 

 

I'd like to encourage you through this time. I know it's hard. But hell, you got newbie gains! It's pr's every time you show up! It's amazement at video's of your body moving well (which is why I'm videoing nearly every session). It's taking the time to feel those awesome endorphin's that have been lacking.

 

I'm assuming you're doing some sort of program, but if not, I'd suggest something like 5/3/1. If you need a copy, send me a dm.

 

Good luck!