Kenbear's Log

[kenbear]

I am KenBear (Ken is also fine).

 

My introduction is posted over here. To summarize the important bits, I'm a pretty big guy. Always have been, I suppose; by the end of high school I was 6'2", 245lb, with a broad frame. College hit me hard, and I gained about 40lbs in the first semester. Since then, I've gone as high as 305lb and as low as 265lb. For too long I've been sluggish and lethargic, working a sit-down job and living a sit-down life.

 

But I'm done with that. I've begun the journey back to the lush green of Fitness Valley, using diet and exercise to get back down to around 275lb. But each step forward has been accompanied by a half-step back, and it's slow going with setbacks and relapses and breaks in willpower. I think I'm missing a few things.

 

What I need are:

 * A long-term, concrete goal. Thus far it's been "get healthy... eventually."

 * A few accountability partners. I'm terrible at keeping myself accountable.

 * A better plan with short-term steps and mid-term checkpoints. The valley is pretty far; I haven't the provisions to make it in a single trip. I need a few taverns along the way.

 

So, here I am. I'll commit to posting here once a day during challenges, and periodically otherwise. Tomorrow starts my Level 1 challenge, and I'm excited. I'll make that a separate post. But since this isn't challenge specific, I'll record now that my overarching goal is to get below the 200lb mark. I'm currently sitting at around 275lbs, so this will require me to lose around 75lbs.

 

I'll link to my challenge thread when I've made it.

[kenbear]

Challenge Log here: http://rebellion.nerdfitness.com/index.php?/topic/51568-kenbears-first-challenge-lets-do-this/

[kenbear]

General status update after two days into my first challenge: I need to crack down; the first two days have been okay, but I've done better.

 

Here's a general note that I'll have to ask around about: when I did a bodyweight exercise on Monday, I found that lunges and squats hurt my knees, which is new. I have been paying careful attention to my form, making sure to keep my back straight and making sure I don't stick my knees out past my toes, but my knees still hurt. What do I do about that?

[EmbracingChaos]

General status update after two days into my first challenge: I need to crack down; the first two days have been okay, but I've done better.

 

Here's a general note that I'll have to ask around about: when I did a bodyweight exercise on Monday, I found that lunges and squats hurt my knees, which is new. I have been paying careful attention to my form, making sure to keep my back straight and making sure I don't stick my knees out past my toes, but my knees still hurt. What do I do about that?

 

Hey there kenbear,

 

When I initially starting doing squats and lunges I found that my knees hurt as well.  For me the weight loss and acclimation to the exercise eventually alleviated the issue, which could also happen for you.  That said, here are a few things you could try:

 

• Rather than doing squat reps, try squatting and holding the position for longer and longer periods of time.  For example, start with remaining squatted for 2 seconds, and build up to 30 seconds (change the length of time to match your current abilities)
• Record yourself doing several squats, then compare to a few videos on YouTube of proper form.  Analyze in critical detail, and make sure the form you 'feel' is correct, really matches the form you should be following
• Substitute reverse lunges for lunges every other workout, or in general if you find them more comfortable

I read in your challenge that you're self-learning Portuguese, that's awesome!  I enjoy learning languages, and French has been my current project.  I also have a similar problem in that I'm not friends with any French speakers, so my learning is all passive (e.g. media, books, etc.)  Have you ever visited the All Japanese All The Time blog?  If not, I highly recommend it.  There's all kinds of great information there on language learning, and personal development/habit building in general.  Good luck, I'll be following your progress!

[kenbear]

This is my first post in a while. I joined a challenge about this time last year, and it didn't go great. I made it into week 4, then vanished. I don't totally remember why now, but in essence I gave up at the time. Quite embarrassing.

 

Since then, however, I'm proud to say I've lost 50lbs on my own (well, with my wife's help). I'm still within reach of my goal of getting below 200lbs by my next birthday on September 3rd, but it means I'll have to lose 15lbs this month and next month each. So I plan to start up again and join the next challenge, which I hope will begin in late July early August. I'll link to that challenge log at that point.

[EmbracingChaos]

50 lbs., wow, that's great progress.  Keep up the good work, whatever you're doing is working.  Have you been doing bodyweight workouts like you were last year, or have you moved on to something new?

[kenbear]

50 lbs., wow, that's great progress.  Keep up the good work, whatever you're doing is working.  Have you been doing bodyweight workouts like you were last year, or have you moved on to something new?

 

Sorry to take so long to get back to you! I missed the notification. Yep, bodyweight workouts have still been a core part of my routine, along with running.

[kenbear]

Decided to tackle the hundredpushups.com challenge in the interim between challenges. Did day one yesterday (starting on week 3 because I landed at 22 pushups in my initial test), and holy crap my pecs are sore today. Very glad for the day off between workouts. I was worried that I wouldn't make it to the end of the last set, but I did, plus an extra one. It was the perfect number of reps for me. Hopefully it keeps going this way.

[kenbear]

This morning was day two of the hundred pushups program. As I mentioned before, in my initial test I was able to complete 22 pushups. Today, I did a set of 14, a set of 19, two more sets of 14, and was still able to bang out a final set of 22 to finish it off! I'm seeing progress already!

[kenbear]

Third day of 100pups. I was again very surprised by my progress. For the program I had to complete a 16 push up set, a 21, and two 15s, followed by a set where I do push ups until I hit failure (but at least 21). I did the first four sets, then managed to bang out a 27 push up failure set! Just last Sunday I hit failure at 22 push ups when I was fresh. There's no way I could have accomplished this even a few days ago.

 

Maybe I seem over excited, but I'm not a regular lifter or anything, so to me this is fantastic progress. I'm still skeptical that I'll hit 100 pushups in just three more weeks, but if I keep improving at the pace I have been, I mean... maybe.