Mariah Snow's Respawn Challenge

[MariahSnow]

Main Quest

To do one full pushup, to lose the 10lbs I gained in the last 6 months, to de-stress and enjoy working out again, to stop wolfing down food.

Mini-Goals to get me there!

Complete 3x a week strength training (MWF)

Training Day 1 contains squat variations, horizontal push (bench press), horizontal pull (rows of any variety), back extensions, and glute/hip work, core work (bird dogs)

Training Day 2 contains deadlift variations, vertical push (ohp or arnold press), vertical pull (pulldown), back extensions, and calf/accessory work, core work (planks)

Alternate days each week. I’ve been doing this for the last month now, so it shouldn’t be to difficult to keep up as it’s a pretty flexible schedule.

This includes upper body strength and lower body strength so I get stronger in general, but also focuses on some upper body movements to help build up my back, chest, and arms.

 

Complete AMRAP stair pushups 5x a week (this could be all weekdays with weekends off)

The point here is to grease the groove. I can use the stairs in my house while the cats are eating their breakfast, keeping track of reps. Not sure when would be a good time to move down to a lower stair. Some progressions say when I can do 30 in a set… That seems like a lot.

 

Eat Mindfully

I tend to zone out and just eat but I find that if I focus on eating, I tend to eat less and actually enjoy my food. Anyone do that thing where they’re really excited to eat something, like hot chocolate, and then suddenly it’s gone and you think, what happened, where did it go? That’s me.

I’m going to count this by days. If I remembered to stop during a meal, chew my food, and enjoy the flavors even if it only lasted a minute before I got distracted again, that counts. The point here is not to focus on every single bite, but remind myself to slow down and pause during a meal. Hopefully, over time, this will become a habit and I will naturally pause during meals and enjoy my food.

Bonus side effect: hopefully if I’m eating something mediocre, I’ll stop and realize it, and then toss it. I shouldn’t eat something “meh†just because it’s there.

 

Side Quest

I’m a hater, and the person I hate the most on is myself. “Why are you doing this? It’s never worked before. Why do you even try?†Ouch. It’s even gotten to the point where that jerk inside me has said things like, “you should just kill yourself.†So I’m going to work on this in reverse because not only do I hate on myself, but I hate on other people. That coworker who used to be a bigger girl and now is a crossfit beast? She must be starving herself. False, but that’s what the hater wants to believe because it means having the strength I want isn't based on hard work. I think the key to stop hating on myself so much is to start on the outside and work inward. I need to be more accepting and less judgemental of people, whether they’re succeeding in their pursuits or a negative force in my life. Also, I need to stop engaging in office gossip. During some shifts, I'd sit with a coworker and just bitch about other coworkers. This is healthy for venting purposes, but eventually it becomes unhealthy and doesn't actually solve anything. And contributes to already plummeting morale.

 

TL;DNR

Strength train 3xweek

Grease the groove on AMRAP stair pushups 5xweek

Pause during 1 meal every day to enjoy the food

Stop hating on others and their successes or failures

[redtomato501]

Looks like a great plan!

 

{...} Also, I need to stop engaging in office gossip. During some shifts, I'd sit with a coworker and just bitch about other coworkers. This is healthy for venting purposes, but eventually it becomes unhealthy and doesn't actually solve anything. And contributes to already plummeting morale. [...]

 

THIS. While it's not really my coworkers, I get super frustrated by the hierarchy in my organization, and the (I think) bad decisions that they make, and while it was a bonding thing to bitch about, as things continue to go wrong it just brings down moral. I need to keep in mind the Serenity Prayer (Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.) and focus on what I can do. Key my direct supervisor in on any legit problems, try to keep the crazy from stemming over and affecting my coworkers, students and program, and meanwhile work on my next step. Focus on the solvable, let the unsolvable roll off.

[MariahSnow]

Looks like a great plan!

 

 

THIS. While it's not really my coworkers, I get super frustrated by the hierarchy in my organization, and the (I think) bad decisions that they make, and while it was a bonding thing to bitch about, as things continue to go wrong it just brings down moral. I need to keep in mind the Serenity Prayer (Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.) and focus on what I can do. Key my direct supervisor in on any legit problems, try to keep the crazy from stemming over and affecting my coworkers, students and program, and meanwhile work on my next step. Focus on the solvable, let the unsolvable roll off.

 

Exactly!!! Our management is pretty terrible IMO, but my opinion doesn't really matter does it? I'm not invited to those meetings where they discuss changes and the future of the company. So why sit and bitch about it? A really awesome HR guy at work said something that really made sense to me - if you don't like what's going on or what management is doing, you don't have to be here. They're paying me and I'm willing to show up. I can walk out at any time, and if I really feel strongly about it, then I should. But I want money and I want a job, so here I am.

[FamilyBeer]

Side Quest

I’m a hater, and the person I hate the most on is myself. “Why are you doing this? It’s never worked before. Why do you even try?†Ouch. It’s even gotten to the point where that jerk inside me has said things like, “you should just kill yourself.†So I’m going to work on this in reverse because not only do I hate on myself, but I hate on other people. That coworker who used to be a bigger girl and now is a crossfit beast? She must be starving herself. False, but that’s what the hater wants to believe because it means having the strength I want isn't based on hard work. I think the key to stop hating on myself so much is to start on the outside and work inward. I need to be more accepting and less judgemental of people, whether they’re succeeding in their pursuits or a negative force in my life. Also, I need to stop engaging in office gossip. During some shifts, I'd sit with a coworker and just bitch about other coworkers. This is healthy for venting purposes, but eventually it becomes unhealthy and doesn't actually solve anything. And contributes to already plummeting morale.

 

I'm not like you but I have a technique that seems to work, finish each journal entry with a positive thought. I try to journal (not just here on NF but my personal one) daily and I finish every entry with a positive thought or comment. Rather than "damn, I didn't complete that lift" or "felt horrible today", I'll turn it around with something like "that lift was hard, obviously, I didn't complete it, but I can do it next time, I was so close this time" or "felt horrible today, runny nose, etc, but so did my dog and it was funny how listless he was, he didn't want to get up off the couch, even when I offered him a treat, silly dog!"

 

Added: This process was shown to me when I went to see a speaker who talked about positive self-talk and that when people talk positively about themselves, after a while, it sinks in and they feel better.

[PrincessHeather]

Yay for respawn!

 

The gossip thing was a big problem at my old job... and was really problematic for me because I was HR and had to report on a lot of junk people would just randomly decide to tell me. Gossip is no bueno, and really doesn't make work a fun place to be. Good luck fixing that, and yay for a new challenge!