Doc Savage's Battle Log

[dsavage]

So I'm going to log progress here.

 

My workouts have been sporadic up until a month ago. My weight has been

slowly creeping up.

 

One month ago I started eating clean and working out. I use endomondo to track all

my exercise. I eat mostly paleo (it ain't perfect, but it's more than good enough to make

me feel better, and that's what matters). I'm forgetting what gummy worms taste like.

 

After 2 weeks, the increased energy from my paleo diet hit me. I now had the motivation

and energy to plan my meals, work out, and begin working on my side side business (got

my first clients!). It's hard to attribute all of that to paleo, but you can't underestimate the

productivity increase you get when you just feel better. It's a virtuous circle.

 

Anyways, here's today's battle log.

 

I woke up at 7am, no alarm. Just energetic. I find that it fills me up these days.

I don't remember the last time that happened.  I had my protein shake. I hit the

gym, and made it a point to increase the resistance on deadlifts, dumbell bench press,

and squats.

 

Passed on the free Einsteins bagels at work. [insert success kid meme here]

 

Had a stressful event come up related to my house. Didn't let it throw me into a gummy worm

binge.

 

Ate my spinach salad for lunch (that I actually remembered to prepare the night before). Due to

working out this morning had time to do some billable work for my client during my day job lunch break.

(I'm planning a jail break from my cushy corporate job)

 

No unplanned snacking. Lots of unplanned inspiration from NF forums.

 

It's a bunch of little successes today, but if I don't celebrate them, I'll forget and only remember the stresses.

 

[dsavage]

Just lost a longer post. Here's the short version.

 

Woke up at 6:30. That never happens.

Hit the gym. I worked out heavy yesterday so I did the BBBW.

It got my blood pumping. It's nice to be able to practice form

on squats and lunges.

 

Push ups are getting easier. Last weekend I did a pushup with a clap

at the top for the first time!

 

Practiced handstand planking.

[dsavage]

Up at 6:45. I guess this is the new normal? Yesterday I did some impromptu ultimate frisbee,

which almost make me puke. In an awesome way.

 

Just downed my breakfast, got my lunch packed, and am heading to the gym

for my second heavy workout of the week.

[dsavage]

Today's a rest day. Got a Real Salt Lake game and wife's soccer game to go to.

 

The trend of waking up at 6:00 am continues. Being a morning person is awesome.

This morning I've read all the first Maze Runner book, done dishes, laundry, cooked breakfast and it's

just about the time I'd normally wake up.

 

Today's a good day to plan for the rest of the week and reflect. Tomorrow I'll be working on

the course I'm putting together (life quest). We got the mic this week so now we have everything to do

amateur recording.

[Muscle Professor]

Awesome, an other person from utah.

[dsavage]

Sundays occupy a unique spot in my exercise week. It's an "anything goes" day. M/W/F I

stick to strength training (deadlifts, squats, bench, etc). Tu/Th I'm doing more stuff with my

own bodyweight and maybe some cardio (like riding my bike or a nice train run).

 

Saturday's a good "off" day.

 

Sunday (today) is hiking day for my dogs. It's when they get a longer walk instead of the short one

around the neighborhood I give them on weekdays. Today they got an extra special treat. We headed

up to the uintah mountains http://www.hikesandlakes.com/highuintas.html#23 to hike towards a little

known peak without a name. Looked like I could find a little solitude there.

 

The dogs and I left the house at 10:00 AM for 4 1/2 hours of hiking. We saw several mountain lakes,

a few backpackers, and tons of grassy meadows including one that looked like it could have been used for putting.

 

4 1/2 hours of cardio at 13 thousand feet might sound a little crazy, but for me it's the only way to clear my head

of all the city noise I don't even realize I'm hearing. Every breath up there is as refreshing as a drink of cool water.

 

Also, after 10 miles most of my lower body has actually gotten a pretty good workout. Switching up my workouts like

this keeps my body on it's toes.

Here's a picture of a cool staircase I found.

[Muscle Professor]

Sounds like a good time.

Sundays occupy a unique spot in my exercise week. It's an "anything goes" day. M/W/F I

stick to strength training (deadlifts, squats, bench, etc). Tu/Th I'm doing more stuff with my

own bodyweight and maybe some cardio (like riding my bike or a nice train run).

 

Saturday's a good "off" day.

 

Sunday (today) is hiking day for my dogs. It's when they get a longer walk instead of the short one

around the neighborhood I give them on weekdays. Today they got an extra special treat. We headed

up to the uintah mountains http://www.hikesandlakes.com/highuintas.html#23 to hike towards a little

known peak without a name. Looked like I could find a little solitude there.

 

The dogs and I left the house at 10:00 AM for 4 1/2 hours of hiking. We saw several mountain lakes,

a few backpackers, and tons of grassy meadows including one that looked like it could have been used for putting.

 

4 1/2 hours of cardio at 13 thousand feet might sound a little crazy, but for me it's the only way to clear my head

of all the city noise I don't even realize I'm hearing. Every breath up there is as refreshing as a drink of cool water.

 

Also, after 10 miles most of my lower body has actually gotten a pretty good workout. Switching up my workouts like

this keeps my body on it's toes.

Here's a picture of a cool staircase I found.

[dsavage]

Today's daily log.

 

I had a pleasant surprise waking up today. I'm not sore from the 10 mile hike at 13 thousand feet

I did yesterday. My body is definitely getting more resilient.

 

Hit the gym, increased resistance on weights (although reps dropped a bit). New personal record on

squats and deadlifts. New personal record for this decade on dumbell press. I'm starting to really

log my workouts for the first time.

 

For quest 2 I was able to do 3 pullups, but my form wasn't good enough to count them. By the end of this week

I'll be there I know it.

[dsavage]

Today's log.

 

I did a basic body weight workout today, it really worked up a sweat. It's nice to

spend some time working on balance and some stabilizing muscles.

 

I've started doing squats on a bosu ball, which is nice because I have poor balance and

weak ankles.

 

I now have a mini life quest this week. Stain my fence while the Significant Other is out of town. Got about 20%

of the way their last night.

 

That's all folks.

[dsavage]

Posting yet again.

 

Mini quest is on hold due to weather. Stain and rain do mix. unfortunately.

 

I'm having trouble avoiding snacking and other bad habits. I haven't given into temptation,

but it's been a struggle.

 

Also my mind's all over the place

since I'm interviewing with one of the largest tech companies in the world and a startup

that recently closed a big round and will allow me to work from anywhere (like a cabin).

Will my life quest change or do I stay the course and keep working on my own small business?

 

The one constant has been getting up early, eating healthy, and working out. 2 more days until I

measure waist size and pull-ups.

[dsavage]

I managed to get over my whinyness pretty fast. Listened to some music and cleaned the house.

 

New record on pull-ups today (3). For those keeping track I get a B on one of my quests.

 

I tried to incrementally increase the amount of weight I'm squatting/deadlifting, but form might

be suffering. I'm torn on going to less weight and the 10 reps or keeping with my 4-6 reps and heavier

weight and working on increasing my reps.

 

Tomorrow I find out how I'm doing with my other quest (waistline). Very excited.

[dsavage]

It's been a couple days. Things are going alright. I haven't missed any workout days.

My diet has been good quality wise, but not quantity wise. I went out to eat at

Sugarhouse BBQ and ate a giant plate of pulled pork. oh well.

 

I started this morning off with an extra long workout. I really had some intensity,

which was awesome.

 

I also decided to stop doing fake squats in the smith machine. I stripped off the weights and only focused on

form. My quads thanked me.

 

Tomorrow I take my weekly picture. I might publish some of them when I can show changes over a month period.

[Muscle Professor]

Cant wait to see the picture update. Sugarhouse BBQ is awesome, ill know have to go their some time soon. 

[dsavage]

Not much to report. I did an 8 mile hike, so that counts as cardio!

 

I'm going to try and adopt a little more cardio this week (jump roping +

road bilking). It's going to be tough to stay on track because I'm now

officially switching jobs. Can't complain because I'm going from a good

job to a great one.

 

I've been excited to see the progress of everyone in my accountabilibuddy group,

even though I haven't told them lately. Great job on the tri Ryoko!

[dsavage]

Update:

 

Woke up this morning and hiked mount olympus. Beats the hell out of using a treadmill.

 

I've been sticking to a good paleo diet. Grass fed beef, thai food, etc. I haven't missed any workouts,

and my pull-up count is up to 4.

 

I've made some solid progress on my life quest. I'm looking at some property out of the city

this weekend. I now have a work-from-anywhere job, so yay!

 

I'll post a picture from mount olympus tonight.

[dsavage]

Mount olympus, home of the gods. Also the location of this morning's hike.

[Muscle Professor]

Mount olympus, home of the gods. Also the location of this morning's hike.

I got some good memories at mount Olympus. What a great spot for a hike.

[dsavage]

Ugh. Just went to get a suit taken out because while I'm getting in better shape pretty quickly, I

have a thing in 2 weeks in New York. There wasn't enough fabric for them to work with, which was

pretty crushing.

 

Oh well, I just need to remind myself what I have accomplished over the last month.

 

1. No more candy. Period.
2. No sugary drinks at all.
3. Way less eating out.
4. Way more successful at planning out meals.
5. All time one month record on endomondo for calories burned.
6. Pullups have gone from less than one to 6.
7. Oh yeah and I now have a work from anywhere in the world job with more $$!

Okay, now that I've made it to the bottom of this message I feel more motivated. I still think I need to do a few more bike rides/jump roping.

[dsavage]

Today was measurement day.

 

I did a 10 mile bike ride up a nearby canyon, about 1.2k feet of elevation gain, but the ride down was intense!

 

My waist hasn't shrunk at all since last week unfortunately, but my weight is down another 2 pounds I didn't

even get winded on my ride! I'm going to keep upping cardio and switch my lunches back to spinach salad.

 

Still on track for this challenge though!

[shaar]

Don't let measurements throw you off track!  You're clearly feeling better and able to do more physical activity, and that's an AWESOME sign!  (And a 10 mile bike ride is pretty serious too.)

 

Go go go!

[MegaShe-Ra]

Wow looks like you have some pretty cool hiking spots nearby!

Seems like you're doing really well keeping up.

[dsavage]

I live by park city, utah so there's lots of fun hiking.

 

I bet Melbourne has some good hikes too. 

 

Thanks for the encouragement!

[dsavage]

I've been away from a computer for a few days, camping. It was actually easy to

stick to my diet because food choices were limited. Endured lots of teasing due to

eating spinach while they ate potatoes.

 

Also did a 5k man vs mud run, which was awesome! I was with a large, slow group

so I didn't get to really run it, but the obstacles were pretty fun.

 

Looking forward to putting in an extra 50% to finish out this challenge!

[shaar]

Oof, I love potatoes too.  Good on you for sticking to the veggies!

[dsavage]

Ain't no potatoes like dutch oven potatoes. It required superhuman amounts of willpower.

I saw these and I was like: