[d3li9ht] started late, but will persevere!

[d3li9ht]

Greetings, fellow rebels! This will be my first challenge. Although I only have two and half weeks towards the end of the challenge, I'm *going to complete this*!

 

********************

1st CHALLENGE

 

Main Quest: To teach my body that it needs exercise!

 

Motivation: I'm not in very bad shape after giving birth and 1.5 years of nursing my first baby, but I feel that I can do better. I have always wanted to get a better shape (losing those love handles, firmer thigh etc) but haven't got motivated enough to start. I hope joining this challenge will be my first step towards it

 

Sub Quests:

a. Do plank exercise (3x a week)

Inspiration:

Why I made this quest? Bcoz I want to be able to do a proper push up.

Breakdown: Do at least 3 sets of plank each session. Do more if I feel like it

Estimated time: 15 mins

 

b. Do the lighter version of NF's Dynamic Warm Up (3x a week, different day with plank exercise)

Link: http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2012/01/09/warm-up/

Why I made this quest? Bcoz right now, I'm doing almost zero warm up nor exercise every day. This will be a baby step for more exercise.

Breakdown:

30 s jump rope

10 jumping jacks

10 squats

5 lunges

5 wall push ups

Estimated time: 15 mins (?)

 

So my new-newbie-exercise-schedule will be:

Sun, Tue, Thu :: plank

Mon, Wed, Sat :: DWU

Fri :: rest

 

c. Drink at least 300ml (the size of my drink bottle) of water or green tea, every day.

Why I made this quest? Bcoz I feel like I'm drinking too much caffe latte or sweet tea and not enough water...

 

********************

 

My NF character choice:

race: human

class: adventurer (do I pick this by myself?)

 

Other data:

F, age 27, height 154cm, weight 49kg (3kg heavier than before getting pregnant on 2012).

 

As I am a total newbie, I really hope for your input, advice, critics, anything

(and I'm sorry that my goals are sooooo light >,<)

 

Thanks for reading!

[Flex Luthor]

Welcome. Sounds like you've got some good motivation. I'm sure you'll do great

[theredphoenix]

Awesome! Another push up newbieee! Welcome I'll be cheering you on *follow*

[d3li9ht]

Awesome! Another push up newbieee! Welcome I'll be cheering you on *follow*

 

Thanks for following me! I followed you back

Your goal is awesome-- I want to be able to do handstand someday!

But first... I need to start moving my body XD

Quick question - can you teach me how to create that awesome progress bar in your signature, pretty pleaaase? XD

[d3li9ht]

Welcome. Sounds like you've got some good motivation. I'm sure you'll do great

 

Thank you for the warm welcome~

Gotta do my best!

[theredphoenix]

Thanks for following me! I followed you back

Your goal is awesome-- I want to be able to do handstand someday!

But first... I need to start moving my body XD

Quick question - can you teach me how to create that awesome progress bar in your signature, pretty pleaaase? XD

Oh you just click on your profile name at the top, and then edit you profile-  inside there you can edit your signature ! Also yay fitness buddies !

[d3li9ht]

NF Challenge #1 Day-1

It's only Day 1 and I couldn't wait till tomorrow to post a progress!

5 mins to midnight and I've just completed my "exercise" for today... lol

I got home at around 21:30, way later than usual, bcoz of a deadline coming up. House chores,put baby to sleep, bla bla, finally ate dinner at almost 23:00, more house chores, glanced at the clock and realized I only got few mins to do today's exercise

I couldn't find my jump ropes so I did the other sets twice... The funny thing was I also couldn't find a piece of wall to do wall push up lol... Had to move some furnitures for it. But surprisingly I can do the wall push up! Although after two sets, my arms and legs almost gave away... Sigh...

To sum up my Day-1 Challenge:

(Light) dynamic warm up... Check! (minus jump rope)

300ml green tea... Check!

Feeling good about myself... Triple Check!!! ))

One more thing; my irl friend told me about the gym at our Uni! I'd better check it out and get myself some gym goodness while it's free a.k.a still being a student ;-D

Ok, now to catch some sleep... See you Rebels tomorrow!

[Nephthie]

Congrats on your first challenge!  As a newbie myself I can't offer much advice other than this is a great community for support!  Good luck and have fun!

[MegaShe-Ra]

I can't do a proper push up either. Lol

I have just been doing my routine with push-ups from the knees. >_<

We can work on it together!

Good luck with your goals.

[Twilight]

(and I'm sorry that my goals are sooooo light >,<)

 

Hello! Congrats on starting your first challenge! Light goals are great to start with. You don't want to take on too much and get discouraged and then quit, right? There's plenty of time for harder goals later. Make sure you're implementing changes you can live with.

 

For wall push-ups/incline push-ups, I use a windowsill or the edge of the dining room/kitchen table. I don't like having the wall coming at my face when I do them against the wall.

[Feowyn]

Looks like a great start!

[Tateman]

Welcome to the challenge  

 

Looks like a good setup of goals to help get you in the habit of doing the exercises.

 

I am one of the Guild Ambassadors from the Adventurers Guild.  If you have any questions, feel free to hit up the Adventurers Tavern.  You can also send me a PM if you need anything, or just post here as well.  I am going to follow your thread and help keep tabs on you      I've started up a Level 1 Rebels Support Squad of AWESOME! if you care to join.  I'm basically just tying to get people together to help motivate and keep each other on track.  If not mine, there are plenty of other accountabilibuddies groups to choose from.

[d3li9ht]

Welcome to the challenge

Looks like a good setup of goals to help get you in the habit of doing the exercises.

I am one of the Guild Ambassadors from the Adventurers Guild. If you have any questions, feel free to hit up the Adventurers Tavern. You can also send me a PM if you need anything, or just post here as well. I am going to follow your thread and help keep tabs on you I've started up a Level 1 Rebels Support Squad of AWESOME! if you care to join. I'm basically just tying to get people together to help motivate and keep each other on track. If not mine, there are plenty of other accountabilibuddies groups to choose from.

Hey Tateman! Thanks for telling me about the group - I'd like to join please, but umm what should I do then? Please teach me ;-D

[d3li9ht]

# 1st Challenge Day 5 #

Okay quick update!

Day 1: did warmup 2 sets (minus rope jump)

Day 2: did plank exercise 5 sets; 30s doing plank, 1m rest

Day 3: Friday the rest day! My stomach muscles felt contracted & sore, so did my shoulders >,< Who knows that only that small amount of exercise can cause such reaction to my body... sigh...

Day 4: did warmup 2 sets (minus rope jump)

Day 5 (today): post an update XD

Day 1 - Day 4 mission of 300ml water/greentea intake: Done!

So far so good ;-)

Quick question: when I feel sore muscles, what should I do to lessen them? Do warm shower or warm drinks helps? What do you do on rest day (if you have any)?

Thank you for your advices :-)

[shutsumon]

I love that video though I'm not sure doing pushups every day is wise. I might modify the advice to get me to doing full pushups as lack of core strength is why I fail at them.

[Tateman]

Hey Tateman! Thanks for telling me about the group - I'd like to join please, but umm what should I do then? Please teach me ;-D

Well, I try to go to post in the group thread.  Then check out each person's thread from teh group.  Offer support, suggestions etc.

 

# 1st Challenge Day 5 #

Okay quick update!

Day 1: did warmup 2 sets (minus rope jump)

Day 2: did plank exercise 5 sets; 30s doing plank, 1m rest

Day 3: Friday the rest day! My stomach muscles felt contracted & sore, so did my shoulders >,< Who knows that only that small amount of exercise can cause such reaction to my body... sigh...

Day 4: did warmup 2 sets (minus rope jump)

Day 5 (today): post an update XD

Day 1 - Day 4 mission of 300ml water/greentea intake: Done!

So far so good ;-)

Quick question: when I feel sore muscles, what should I do to lessen them? Do warm shower or warm drinks helps? What do you do on rest day (if you have any)?

Thank you for your advices :-)

Well, if you are going from no exercise, to suddenly a lot of exercise, your muscles will be a lot more sore.  Back to back days for the same muscle groups is usually not recommended so that the muscle have time to recover.  As you progress, the muscle soreness will ease up a lot more.  A lot of times it is that initial soreness that turns people off workouts.  You get pumped up to do all things, then sit around for 5 days saying never again because you are too sore

 

Stick with the workouts.  You can try to get in some extra wamup time before the workout to loosen up the muscles.  Also stretching after workouts helps as well.

[Twilight]

Yes, stretching and more exercise will help your sore muscles! Be gentle with yourself though; don't hurt yourself by overdoing it.

[d3li9ht]

# 1st Challenge Day 14 #

 

Hey fella Rebels,

Sorry I have been quiet this past week --- real life caught up >.<

(And it's only my 2nd week on NF...)

 

So these are recap on my days:

 

# Week 1 #

Day 1 (8/20): light warmup 2 sets (minus rope jump)

Day 2 (8/21): 5 sets of plank @30s

Day 3 (8/22): Friday the rest day~

Day 4 (8/23): light warmup 2 sets (minus rope jump)

Day 5 (8/24): 10 sets of plank @30s

Day 6 (8/25): light warmup 1 set (did the rope jump)

Day 7 (8/26): --- busy day in the uni, completely forgot my workout D:

 

Goal #1 plank: 3/3 (100%)

Goal #2 light warmup: 2/3 (67%)

Goal #3 300ml water/greentea intake: 7/7 (100%)

 

 

# Week 2 #

Day 8 (8/27): to make it up: did the light warmup + 5 sets of plank @45s. Barely able to keep my hands straight on last sets >,<

Day 9 (8/28): light warmup 1 set

Day 10 (8/29): Friday the rest day~

Day 11 (8/30): --- went out for some shopping and forgot workout again

Day 12 (8/31): --- home alone with a baby, mountains of housework *sigh*

Day 13 (9/01): to make it up: light warmup + 5 sets of plank @45s. I felt a slight improvement! I wasn't so out of breath like the previous 45s session

Day 14 (9/02, today): to make it up: light warmup + 10 sets of plank @45s. It was h-a-a-a-r-d...

 

Goal #1 plank: 4/3 (>100% )

Goal #2 light warmup: 3/3 (100%)

Goal #3 300ml water/greentea intake: 7/7 (100%) yay~

 

 

Also, today I went to the university gym for the first time! I only did the bike machine (aerobike?), as I am completely stranger to any gym machine; I walked around and snapped some photos though, planning to "study" those machines. 

 

So far I saw:

- a treadmill,

- a stairmaster climbing systems (I asked the guy in the registration desk, but he had no idea how to operate this machine lol),

- some aerobikes,

- some downward slope bench for doing sit-ups, with two rows of leg catcher (blue bench) and one row of leg catcher (yellow bench) (uhm.. I just made up these explanation, CMIIW please!)

- a rolling bench with two sets of arms (...can't explain this one and nobody used it),

- a weird-looking half-circle-shaped bench with one row of leg catcher,

- another small bench with leg catcher where you lay facedown while lifting some weights (saw other people doing this); this time the blue one has one row of leg catcher and the yellow one has two rows,

- an Isolateral Leg Extension machine,

- an Isolateral Leg Press machine,

- an Isolateral Chest Back machine,

- an Isolateral Leg Curl (?),

- a huuuge Precor strength multi station with advanced pressing motion; it has a huge explanation poster in English (thankfully not in Japanese!!!),

- a red long bench with two rows of leg catcher on one end and a rack with weights tied on the other end,

- a Butterfly,

- a Biceps Curl,

- a Triceps Ext.,

- a huge dumbbell in a stand which can also be used as a pull-up stand,

- and some weights, dumbbells, with two-three big mirrors: weight-lifting areas.

 

Wow, after I wrote everything down, the gym sounds *huge*. Although in fact, it is only a small room packed with machines...

 

...and ugh, I need a "Gym Dictionary" D:

 

And I will be honest: I am kinda terrified with these machines --- although in some way I also feel thrilled, thinking that in a distant future, maybe I will be able to exercise using them - with the guidance from my fellow Rebel friends!

 

So... as I am a total newbie to the gym, do you have any suggestion on how can I start exercising on the gym? 

 

 

Huft-- long update!

Thank you as always for your supports and advices :-)

[d3li9ht]

20 mins to midnight... Still busy checking out Awesome Squad members lol.

My calf started to feel sore --- although I only did the aerobike "strength test" for 11 mins, going from 0W to 100W at the end. (I didn't even know what the W means... Some kind of weight?)

I felt proud having completed 10 sets of 45s plank! I started to feel my stomach shaking on 7th set, and on 9th set my fingers started to feel cold. But, I stick to 1 minute rest (3 mins between 5th & 6th set), and I finished it!

Better to get some sleep soon ;-)

[Aerinity]

Getting started is half the battle!

[d3li9ht]

I think I need to reword my questions about exercising in the gym. Here's what I want to know:

1. How long have you been going to the gym? How many hours do you spend for exercising and for taking a break in each gym session?

2. When first starting in the gym, did you have a trainer? How did you pick/get a trainer? If you still remember - what kind of exercise/gym machine/goal was your first?

3. How about now -- do you still have a trainer?

4. How do you plan your gym sessions? Do you have an exact plan of doing what machines with how many reps; or do you go there and hop on anything you feel like doing?

5. What's the advantage you feel for going to the gym, rather than exercising outside the gym?

Right now, I have no friend who is passionate about going to the gym; nor have any friend who is experienced on it. NF Rebels are my first friends; so I'm hoping to learn from your experience m(_ _)m

(Please tell me if these questions are better to be posted somewhere else to get more people to answer...)

Thank you very much for sharing your experience to this newbie :-)

[Tateman]

Might want to try asking here http://rebellion.nerdfitness.com/index.php?/forum/200-help-im-new-to-fitness-and-have-questions/

 

Or you might want to check in the Warriors guild too http://rebellion.nerdfitness.com/index.php?/topic/36709-the-mead-hall-the-warrior-water-cooler/

[d3li9ht]

Thanks Tateman! I have posted the question here:

http://rebellion.nerdfitness.com/index.php?/topic/52920-Please-share-your-gym-experience-%5E_%5E

Btw, your first link leads to some people's thread; did you mislinked it?

[Tateman]

The warrior's guild chat thread.  Basically one big thread for all the people to post in with questions and such.  Each guild has their own.  So when I have a question about running, i posted over in the Scouts chat thread.

 

I figured since it was a gym question, warriors might know best

[d3li9ht]

I like reading the warrior guild cold water room Just not umm courageous enough to post there I guess..

But - I mean the link you shared before the warrior guild link. It leads to... "Matt's April Challenge"