Church: Hard To Kill

[Church]

July 16, 2014

 

Hi guys! I'm back! 

 

Lots of things have been going on in my life in the year or so that I've been away, but I've already covered all of that in my profile. So just a brief snap shot:

 

I got hurt. both shoulders and my left hip. I've spent the last year trying to overcome the pain and recover some of my range of motion and now I'm finally in a place where I can pick up from square one, assess my current abilities, set my goals, plan my path to success, and begin recovering lost ground.

 

Goals, for now...

 

Run 10k non-stop.

Run 5k in 20 minutes or less.

Freestanding Pistol Squat. 3 sets of 10 per leg.

One arm push ups. 3 sets of 10 per arm.

Freestanding handstand push ups. 3 sets of 10

Front/back body levers. 60 seconds, full extension.

Muscle ups. 3 sets of 10.

Injury proof, become Anti-Fragile, and improve mobility.

 

The Plan

 

Physical:

1. Create, and do a bench mark workout in a controlled environment to get a progress point.
2. Build a habit around consistent training and recording progress and stats on a weekly basis.
3. Build a habit of stretching after every workout, and do lots of mobility work on cardio days.
4. Be sure to log workouts daily, and do stats and pics every third week.

Dietary

1. Build a habit around tracking what I eat using MyFitnessPal.
2. Incorporate my current line of supplements into an approximation of a paleo diet.
3. While tracking my diet, it is more important to be full on good foods, than to hit a certain calorie goal and be hungry. 

Today I am super busy with errands and "I just got back from camp" stuff, so my next post, tomorrow, will include my workout plan and starting stats.

 

See you then.

 

-Church- 

[Church]

So today I got around to doing a benchmark workout. It went as follows:

• Pull ups: 4
• Freestanding pistol squats: 4 left / 2 right
• Push ups: 13
• BW rows at hip height: 10
• L-seat: 15 seconds
• RPoD: 60 seconds per hold

Current weight: 181.5 lbs.

 

And the progress pics:

 

   

 

Shout out to Lincarte for helping me get the pictures to post at a reasonable size, and for helping he get the links in my signature

[Church]

OK. So now that I'm less frustrated, I think I'll take a crack at organizing a workout plan now.

 

1. pull ups: 3 sets of 2
2. assisted pistol squats: 3 sets of 5 per leg
3. overhead press: 3 sets of 5
4. L-seat leg raises: 3 sets of 10
5. push ups: 3 sets of 7
6. body weight rows: 3 sets of 7
7. RPoD: 60s per hold with reverse plank split into 30s one leg planks.
8. Deadlift: 3 sets of 10 at 135 lbs.

My work schedule may be changing a bunch right away, but as it sits right now my plan of attack is to rest on Tuesdays, do cardio and stretching on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays. And do the above strength circuit on Thursdays, Saturdays, and Mondays. 

 

Its not a super advanced workout, but it's a foundation upon which I can build up to my former glory and beyond. The hard part will be to initially build a habit around consistent fitness. And I will need MAJOR stretching in order to regain my lost ROM. 

 

Today I'm headed to the gym to work with my trainer and have him beat on my shoulder and make it stop clicking and aching again. Damn tendons that I can't beat on all by myself. lol.

[Church]

Today's workout:

 

• Pull ups: 2 sets of 3
• Assisted Pistol Squats: 2 sets of 5 per leg
• Overhead press 40lbs.: 2 sets of 5
• L-seat leg raises: 2 sets of 10
• Push ups: 2 sets of 7
• Body weight rows: 2 sets of 7
• RPoD: 2 sets of 60 seconds per hold
• Dead lift 35lbs.: 2 sets of 10

 

Nothing here was particularly difficult, but my goal is to NOT do an all out workout that will hurt me and set me backwards in the healing process. I'm all for being sore, having that kind of muscle pain that makes you feel POWERFUL, but I am done with pushing myself so hard that I can hardly drive for upwards of 5 days, and have trouble pulling my own truck door closed.

 

So from here I will be maintaining this workout at 2 sets for a couple weeks. Just to get used to working out consistently, and this is simple, fun, and quick enough to not be a deterrent. Then I will add in a third set of exactly what you see posted above. Today I did it as a circuit-style workout, but I will have to be flexible in terms of doing all 3 sets of everything one at a time if the gym is too bus for me to realistically take up all the various things I need to use in order to get my workout done as a circuit.

[Church]

Yesterday I went to my little sisters wedding. And danced. Not well, but I was sweating and gasping for breath. Lol.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Church]

Today was a mobility day with my trainer. He used a golf ball to beat on the junk in my left hip to make squats better. It worked but it hurt so bad. There's gotta be a way I can maintain whatever it is he does so he doesn't have to do it any more.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Ciara]

Can I just say, when I first saw the title of your blog I was reminded of Stephen King's Pet Sematary, since the cat's name is Church and he gets hit by a truck and then, well, I don't want to spoil it for anyone.

 

I think your attitude of "I'm not going to kill myself this time" is pretty great, lol. I've done a few different martial arts and they all say to me, "Don't stop keep going forever" and I'm like "Uhh can I have water? Can I please breathe?" Working yourself to that extreme is, well, pretty extreme and I'm glad you've found a healthy area where you can feel the workouts without overdoing it. Becoming anti-fragile will definitely help with that.

 

I've noticed a lot of people use MFP in addition to their trainings. I would like to start counting calories, do you think it's a good tool to use to help with that?

[Church]

Thank you for the kind words  

 

As for my fitness attitude, I am a firm believer that if you're 15 minutes into your workout and you're still cute, then you need to get down to business. Lol. But in my years of physical work, and striving for fitness, I've learned that I can get LOTS more done and make WAY bigger strides if I'm never bogged down in recovery. It is possible to push your muscles, and expand your capability at a rate that is both steady and safe, and will result in impressive results. All you have to do to get where you're going is start where you're at and use what you have at that moment. 

 

That being said, I'm gonna have to really beat on myself in order to get my body in good working order again.

 

I happen to really like MyFitnessPal, I find it to be a great way to keep track of everything. I struggle with finding my exact food sometimes, but its still an interesting tool to see what I actually eat, how it breaks down into daily calories, and what I'm getting for fats, carbohydrates, and protein.  

 

Hope that helps

[Church]

Went for a walk this morning. It was nice to get out, but I'm still feeling pretty sore after having ly legs beat into some semblance of functionality yesterday, so it was less awesome tan it might have been. Maybe tomorrow I'l run the path just for something to do. Who knows. Also, I have training tomorrow. And I'm getting super excited for our trip to Spokane (my first trip out of Canada), even though I am currently in a melancholy mood.

 

I'm feeling super restless, but have nothing to do. I COULD do laundry, except that I don't have in suite laundry, and I don't have to time to sit home for however many hours it takes to do all of our clothes and bedding and towels from the week. It'd be nice if I could just throw a load in and get back to it when I get back to it. However, there's only 4 machines for a building of 50+ people, ad that would just be a dick move. You know? 

 

I think I'd rather just spend 13 bucks on socks (the only thing I'm actually out of, and worry about it when we get back from the conference.)

 

Oh yeah, the building machines are down for replacing, and won't be available until tomorrow sometime. 

[Church]

Wow.

 

What. A. Weekend.

 

It was a hectic mess, so I didn't pay attention to logging my diet at all, but rest assured; it was almost all fast food or delivery, none of it healthy. The weekend, however, was AMAZING. Totally life changing.

 

We left Friday morning and drove over 1000 kilometers from Edmonton Alberta, down to Spokane Washington for a business conference from Saturday morning to Sunday evening, then drove home Sunday evening and arrived in our beds at about 7:45 this morning. Now I'm on the hunt for a new job that will keep me in town with my Love so we can build our future, fight for social justice, and help others realize their dreams and better themselves. It looks daunting, but I will overcome and become and I will change the world

[Church]

Today was a winner. Woke up semi-early (about 6am) and went for a walk with my girlfriend ad made her eggs and moose sausage before she had to go to work. Then took a 3 hour nap, then went grocery shopping then went for a cardio workout.

 

There's a soccer pitch less than a kilometer from where we live so I jogged out to it and ran 3 sets of sprints across and back. For the first two sets I sprinted the length of the field, then walked around until I felt like I could go again, and ran back. And for the third set I sprinted to the half and jogged the rest of the way and did the same thing on the way back. I know it wasn't the best I've ever done, and including the travel between home and the pitch and back, it took less than 20 minutes, but I gave it my all and left exhausted. My legs weren't jelly, but not by much. And it was nice to be shirtless in the sun and 30+ degree heat.

 

I have a paleo stir-fry marinating for us for supper and right away we're going to go for another walk  

 

I love doing things with my Love    

[Church]

Well I finally found my threads on Tapatalk (I hate the new Tapatalk) I haven't died, I've just been without time to sit at my laptop. Jobs WAY more physical so hopefully that helps. Even if I don't get any of my goals done.