Spikings - Becoming An Earthbender

[Spikings]

Strike the Earth (intro):

 

Heyoo! This is my third challenge, and I feel like now is the right time for me to move into the Assassin's Guild. I got into the flow of these challenges in the Recruit section, the Adventurers taught me how to manage my food and diet, so now I want to focus on strength and muscle during the next six weeks here. And I'm gonna train myself like an Earthbender because Avatar rocks, and the earth element is all about that core strength and discipline. So without further ado...

 

 

Let's get to work.

 

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Starting Measurements:

 

Bust: 39"

Waist: 33"

Hip: 40"

Thigh: 25.5"

Upper Arm: 12"

 

Starting Weight: 175 pounds

 

I'm not looking to really lose weight here, strength is what my priority is for this challenge, and preferably swapping out the fat for muscle.

 

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My Main Quest:

 

To be able to pull my weight around like it's nothing. Well, at least like it's less work than it actually is right now. I'm not expecting a huge change in strength and appearance in this challenge, but if I can get a stronger core, be able to do deep push ups...maybe even a pull-up, then I'll be happy with myself. One problem is that there is nowhere in my house I can attempt a pull-up, so I'll have to look into that.

 

Day 1 photos (taken from Day 42 of the previous challenge):

 

 

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Quest 1: Complete three bodyweight workouts a week. (bonus, two interval workouts in between)

 

Same as last time, and the time before, but I'm determined to move onto a more challenging workout this time. I'm either thinking of trying the Advanced Bodyweight Workout that NF has to offer, or make up my own workout using exercises that are particularly effective for gaining some muscle.

In between these three workouts (on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday), I'll be doing interval workouts. These will either be a 1.5 mile evening jog, or a Beginner's Bodyweight Workout. After doing week 6 of my last challenge with a workout almost every day to meet my goal, I feel like my body can take this now, and will get stronger for it.

 

A = completed 18 workouts [+3 STR], B = completed 12 workouts [+2 STR], C = completed 6 workouts [+1 STR]

 

 

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Quest 2: Eat more protein, eat less carbohydrates.

 

My food consumption has been dealt with nicely now, so I want to get back into replacing my carbohydrates in my diet. I actually managed this for two weeks of my first challenge before I crashed, and it gave me some great starter results. If I can substitute what I lose in carbohydrates with natural protein foods (nuts, brocolli, chicken, eggs) and a good amount of veg too, then I'll be giving my body the right stuff to be working with.

 

Measurement: A = 35-42 good food days  [+3 CON], B = 28-34 good food days [+2 CON], C = 21-27 good food days [+1 CON]

 

 

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Quest 3: Get some sleep at night! (and wake up early too.)

 

I'm not terrible with my sleeping pattern, but it could see some improvement. Lately I've been getting to sleep later and later, then waking up for work in the morning, sleeping in for an hour and then rushing out of the door. Three hours later and I'm trying not to sleep on my keyboard. xD

So I'll look to get my light out for 11pm on weekdays, and 12am for weekends. This won't always be perfect if I'm staying the weekend at other peep's places, but I can always try. I'm also thinking of buying that sleep tracker app to see when the best time for me to wake up would be, naturally. It might help calm my bodyclock a bit.

 

Measurement: A = 32-42 sleeps [+3 STA], B = 21-31 sleeps [+2 STA], C = 15-20 sleeps [+1 STA]

(Why stamina? Because sleep keeps us going for longer in the day!)

 

 

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Life Quest: I want to learn one or two songs on my guitar, and also be able to sing to them while I play, and sing well, ha! xD This isn't as much a military operation, but it's something I want to work towards and be able to do for myself, and kinda for my boyfriend too. They're songs we both like and I promised I'd sing to him once I have the practice.

 

Measurement: A = 18 Practices [+3 DEX], B = 15 Practices [+2 DEX], C = 12 Practices [+1 DEX]

 

 

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Motivation: I want to look good, feel good and kick ass. Now, time to earthbend.

 

[Ryuu1011]

Another Avatar themed Challenge!? Count me In! Welcome to the Assassins!

[Tkdgirl]

Found you! Subbed, of course

[Lilith]

Great goals, abd I love the avatar theme!

[Spikings]

Thanks guys for the warm welcome, I can't wait to start tomorrow! I really want to kick things up a notch and see where it takes me. I was going to post a bit more often this week prior to the main challenge but life got on top of me, and I was away from my laptop for three days! >_< However, here's some bits and pieces I'm planning to add to my challenge, or at least to help detail out a few of my goals.

 

• I have placed my order for Tescos delivery this week which has a few additional ingredients I haven't added before! This includes sweet potatoes, spinach, cous cous (for some lunches) and some bacon/eggs for a few breakfasts each week. No alcohol or treats have been bought, Easter has just left us and I don't need any more temptations!
• I have some chocolate and an easter egg left in my fridge. I want to eat it over a longer period of time than my usual 24 hours, so I'll try to make what I have last three weeks. It'll also help knock some self-discipline into me after my mini-energy drink addiction from my last challenge.
• I'm going to start planning my meals each week in advance as opposed to getting out a random meat from the freezer in the morning, then guessing what to do with it later. I might also do this for breakfasts and lunches, since I'll be adding new foods to those meals I've never routinely had before.
• I'll be posting an image update of my bod at the halfway point as opposed to every two weeks now.
• I found out today while running for a train that I can only run about 30 seconds maximum at a time before wanting to keel over in a corner. It seems like my strength has improved in my previous challenges, but my cardiovasular is pretty cruddy right now to say the least! I'll be incorporating jogging into my interval workouts to improve this, come hell or high water. (Besides, I can't be an earthbender if I can't stay standing for long.)
• I've started singing more in my flat to practice for my Life Quest! It's pretty fun to do and the walls are thick so I'm not disturbing anyone else either, woo!

Time to smash the first two weeks! With my fists.

 

 

And now to get properly acquainted with the Assassins. You all look like a marvellous bunch, so many follow buttons will be clicked. Also hi, tkdgirl! I've also found you now and followed, love your Buffy theme! And Ryuu1011, avatar themed challenges for the win!! I shall be following your thread with a smile on my face.

[Phayze]

Tof is my hero, and for following in her footsteps, now you are, too. ^^

Now stand there, and take it like an Earthbender, Twinkle Toes!

[Lilith]

Nice goals, smash them today! 

[SunlitSapling]

Great challenge goals! Earthbending is my favorite bending style and the idea of focusing on strength as opposed to weightloss first always seemed like the right thing to do (form follows function and all).

Can't wait to see how strong you get!!

[Spikings]

Sooo, Day 1!

 

â— Workout: Done!

In a way..! I've set myself a new workout routine to get out of my usual BBWW and get into some real strength! It goes as follows...

• 30 Jumping Jacks
• 10 Push-ups
• 30 Squats
• 15 Tricep Dips
• 20 Bicycle Crunches
• 30-second Wall Sit
• 10 Burpees
• Repeat x5 sets. **EDIT: Now down to four sets, as of the end of Week 1.**

However, I didn't see the difficulty coming.

 

The routine somewhat killed me after two sets and I had to stop before I collapsed, but I loved it!! The strength parts were doable enough but I found myself flagging from the cardio involved and those burpees I was unprepared for. I really wanted to complete all the five sets, but I guess that's kinda a little way away yet. ;P I'll definitely try for three sets next time though.

 

 

â— Good food day: Done!

I started off annoyingly early here, got woken up at 4am with some painful hunger pangs in my stomach, so I ate a breakfast bar to clear it before sleeping again. Otherwise all day I've been good - had a banana mid-morning and two biscuits, one sandwich as opposed to two for lunch with nuts, sunbite crisps and an apple. For dinner I had some lovely salmon and a decent serving of broccoli with some goat's cheese and some cinnamon tea this evening. I didn't have as much protein as I wanted today, but I'll work on that over this week.

 

 

â— Good sleeps: ?

This will remain to be seen, but I'm set to get to bed at a good time tonight.

 

 

â— 0/18 guitar practice: Nope.

No guitar practice today, but I've been singing while making dinner. I'm trying to work on my volume a bit, I always sing so quietly, so it comes out all bad. xD

All in all I feel like I've had a good day, and I hope to have plenty of sore muscles for tomorrow. ;D

[Spikings]

Day 2: Nailed it!

 

 

â— Bonus Interval Workout: Done!

I didn't run like I intended, but instead walked about 4.5 miles over the course of the day. I had to pick up my prescription from my doctors, which happened to be in the next village along. It's been amazing weather today too, so I took a long route back - my legs were jelly by the time I sat down, but it was lovely. A little later I did about 10-15 minutes of ab crunch exercises for strength, enough to make my muscles sore in the morning.

 

â— Good food day: Done!

Oatmeal for breakfast, sandwich and nuts for lunch, broccoli and mince for dinner, with an apple, two biscuits and a choc ice in between. Looking at my percentages, I've kicked food consumption's arse! Kept carbohydrates to a minimum, had more protein than I expected and fat was only slightly over my goal.

 

 

â— Good sleeps: Done!

Last night the light was off by...11:10pm. Still got a good sleep though and felt ready for the day (which was good, because it was hella busy! xD)

 

 

â— Guitar Practice: Done!

Practiced a bit tonight and looked up the guitar tabs in detail. Looks like I need a guitar capo to play the song I want with ease, so I bought that off amazon, saved a mega useful youtube vid and did some strumming practice. (Y)

Gonna keep this momentum going.

[Spikings]

Day 3:

 

Having one of those days today of feeling grumpy and stressy - guess I can be like SOME earthbenders around here...!

 

â— Workout: Done!

This time I got to three sets out of five, and I'm starting to get into the swing of burpees. The 30 squats then 15 assisted tricep dips straight after are killing me though, guess I really need to work on that core strength a lot.

 

â— Good food day: No.

It started off well like the rest of my day. For lunch I went to Wetherspoons and had a meal under 500 calories, then added salmon which put it over that amount but made it healthier. I didn't eat anything else until 9pm and then had two cadbury 'egg and soon' eggs (google them, they're gorgeous), and a packet of sunbites crisps. For dinner. Well done me for making great choices there! >_>

 

â— Good sleeps: Done!

Good sleep last night, it lasted me until 2pm when I got mega sleepy. But I'm *cough* at that time of month, so that explains a lot of things really.

 

 

â— Guitar Practice: Nope.

This evening was busier than I thought, I was even gonna do some portfolio drawing but haven't had time for that. I'm waiting until my guitar capo arrives now anyways.

[kuraiuncia]

Love your challenge goals this time Spikings! The Avatar theme is pretty cool too. I think I actually need to finally watch the show. I've been resisting.... but so many people love it!

[EVEArgent]

You can do it, Spikings! What kind of burpees are you doing?

 

Love your challenge goals this time Spikings! The Avatar theme is pretty cool too. I think I actually need to finally watch the show. I've been resisting.... but so many people love it!

Resistance is futile. You will love the Avatar. You will feel the feels.

[Spikings]

Yes kura, you really really need to watch this series!! Or at least give it a try, it's hands down my all-time fave cartoon. Start of with Avatar: The Last Airbender then go on to The Legend of Korra, well worth a shot.

 

 

Day 4:

 

 

â— Bonus Interval Workout: Done!

I  ran like a Toph this evening. I wasn't fast, but I was enduring, just like an earthbender. I actually ran for a good two minutes straight before stopping at one point, was so surprised and happy with myself! The distance was only about 1.2 miles, but that's enough for me to work with right now.

 

â— Good food day: Done!

For lunch I had my graze box, which contained lots of spicy seeds and cheesy cracker/puffs, and also a banoffee sweet treat, very nice indeed. For dinner I had thai green curry with a small nest of noodles, some spring onions, chicken and a great wad of tasty beansprouts. I have enough to make this again too, so I'm happy with that!

 

â— Good sleeps: ....no.

My 'no huggy' mood from yesterday kept going all the way through the evening and straight up to 12:30am. Thankfully I didn't feel too tired today, but I did miss my goal.

 

 

â— Guitar Practice: Nope.

Not this evening, gonna be skyping my lovely boyfriend and reading instead.

[Tkdgirl]

I'm back from holiday!

 

Sounds like a good start to the challenge for you! I will be checking in much more frequently now to see how you're getting on.

[Spikings]

Welcome back Tkd! Hope you had a lovely time away, will be checking in on your challenge in the morning and lurk around other threads.

 

 

Day 5:

 

 

â— Workout: Not done...yet.

I missed it this evening when I should have done it - I was just feeling lazy, no other reason. But I have a full day tomorrow to do it, and I'm determined to get to four sets!

 

â— Good food day: Semi-done!

I did really well until this evening when I cleared out my chocolate in the fridge more or less. My excuse was that my fridge was bulging with healthy food and I wanted to make more room for all of that. Yeah. I had a protein filled cooked breakfast though, and for dinner sweet potato beef hash, so so tasty.

 

â— Good sleeps: Nope.

I finished skyping my bf at 11pm, then realised I hadn't brushed my teeth, washed up the dishes or packed my lunch for tomorrow, so I got to bed later than I wanted. Spoilers, it's now 12:40am that I'm posting this so the next day isn't going to be that much better either. *rolls eyes at self*

 

â— Guitar Practice: Done!

My guitar capo came today so I got a good bit of practicing in. Now that I can set the strings to be a little higher, I can concentrate less on the chords (I know them well already) and more on the strumming pattern (which I suck at while singing). Did this for a good 20-30 minutes today.

[Tkdgirl]

It's good to be back. I hated being gone for the first week of the challenge.

That chocolate excuse really reminded me of myself. I can come up with a million reasons that I should eat a ton of chocolate. If you can resist buying more and doing the same tomorrow then you're a better person than me!

[Spikings]

Yeah I find the most silly reasons to eat chocolate and other snacks, then give myself a bit of a talking to after! I won't be buying anymore chocolate now (I'm pretty stingy with my money) but I'll be going over to a workmate's tonight for some gaming and probably junk food. Will make sure to eat dinner and be full before I go out.

 

Also I've got my third workout of the week done! I'll elaborate on it later but was so happy to get it done and pull through. Being stubborn sometimes helps!

 

[Spikings]

Ah man....yesterday was such a pick n' mix day, so tired as well from last night. Bllleeerrrrggghh....

Day 6:

 

â— Workout: Done!

This one was very difficult. I didn't really want to do it, but did it anyway with some self-poking. I got up to about two and a half sets and was ready to call it until I realised I'd only be going backwards by doing that. I turned off the radio in the background that was playing random crap, and stuck on some heavy metal on my laptop.

 

That metal helped so much, it really gave me the kick up the butt to push to three sets, then give a bit more to make it to four. It was a hellova challenge to get to four, but I'm glad I did it - now just one set left....

 

â— Good food day: Semi-done!

Had a banana for breakfast, soup and bread for lunch, then the thai green curry noodle beansprout bonanza from a couple of days back. Also had an apple and a couple of sunbites crisps in the afternoon. In the evening I went round to a friend's for gaming where everyone had brought everything unhealthy under the sun. I indulged a little, but not too much (few handful of crisps, one cheese puff packet, two small pastries and a doughnut) - sounds like a lot, but these were all the cheap stuffs so the quantities were fairly small.

 

â— Good sleeps: Nope.

 

 

I had forgone a sensible night's sleep to get addicted to a game and talk to my bf. I shall have to do something about this, I'm really not hitting my sleep goals at all. >_<

 

â— Guitar Practice: Done!

Had another 20 minutes of practice until my fingers couldn't take anymore string, then had another go before leaving in the evening for the gaming session. I can get the strumming down better now, but I can't strum in time and sing simultaeneously, that'll be my next step to aim for. In the meantime I was singing throughout my flat in the afternoon, so yay!

[Tkdgirl]

So impressed with the way you pushed to 4 sets - good job. You'll be at 5 sets before you know it!

What games do you play with friends? And what game got you so addicted? I love games and want to get back into it a bit. Trying to get my oldest son into games as well and so far he is loving it!

[Spikings]

Ultra-speedy-quick reply before I dash off to work!

Thanks tkd, hopefully I'll be able to repeat the feat tonight! With friends I end up playing a lot of nintendo games like Mario Kart and Smash Bros, but my favourite multiplayer would be the Little Big Planet series, less competition, more cooperative with a lot of humour on the side. To be honest I'm not hugely addicted to games, but they've become a big part of my life as I work at a games company as an artist. I spent the last three years studying Games Design so it's all sort of intergrated into my life! xD But yeah, I would recommend Little Big Planet for kids, especially if you want to play along with your son - it's a good bonding thing and helped me make many friends at university.

 

Day 7:

 

â— Workout: Day off!

Free day today, will be back on it tomorrow.

 

â— Good food day: Semi-done!

Had a bacon wholemeal sandwich for breakfast, pasta spinach goats cheese pesto tomato....thing for lunch, and for dinner sausages and mixed veg with gravy. In between I had a banana, a handful of nuts, plenty of tea and a few spoonfuls of biscuit spread because I was feeling the chocolate withdrawals. x_x Also I had a hell of a headache all day partly because of stress(?) and partly because of the sleep pattern of the night before, se below... >_>

 

â— Good sleeps: Nope.

 

This is for Saturday night when I was round at my friend's for gaming. I knew I wouldn't be back til late, and was falling asleep by 11:45ish. I decided to call it a night at 12:30, but then two others were gonna walk home with me, so I waited for them. For 45 minutes. .___. The guy just wouldn't stop talking in the four feet distance it too to get to the door. I was a zombie by the time I got back.

 

â— Guitar Practice: Done!

Spent pockets of time throughout the day practicing, can now play the song and sing, but not at the same time, woo! xD

 

 

Week 1 Summary:

Workouts: 3/3

Good food days: 4/7

Good sleeps: 3/7

Guitar practice: 4/3

 

A mixed bag, some things I have got nailed down, others I need to work on. Let's see what week 2 and 3 bring.

[Tkdgirl]

I'll check out Little Big Planet - we need more things to help us with the bonding so it's worth any cost in the long run.

 

Didn't know you worked for a games company. This is very cool. My brother works for some games company...I think Ubisoft now. Makes me jealous, not least because he lives in Singapore to do it!

 

Another good day overall. I hate hate hate when other people stop me getting lots of sleep. The talking on the way to the door thing drives me insane too! 

[Spikings]

Yeah maybe check out a few trailers or gameplays online, it even has some narration by Stephen Fry which is pretty cool! I'd recommend the first one personally, but the second game is good too. Haha yeah, it's a pretty cool sounding job and I do enjoy it. That's so cool that your brother works for Ubisoft, I remember my dream being to work for them a few years back, unfortunately they don't have any studios in England that I can think of and I don't fancy moving country yet. But still that's awesome!

 

Yep not bad at all - I keep feeling like I'm eating well, but then I look back at my goals and realise I haven't included enough protein so I put it down to a half-success - I'm not sure whether to give myself some slack or step it up a notch yet.

 

Day 8:

 

â— Workout: Done!

 

 

I only did three sets today. I think I'm going to alter my workout so that I can aim to do maximum four sets instead of five, because as it is... my body just can't quite hack it at the moment. >_<; By the third set my arms could barely hold me up when doing assisted tricep dips, let alone doing the exercise itself. I might swap around the routine a little so I don't overwork one part of my body in a consecutive row, then maybe I'll be able to get through it easier.

Still, it was done. And I'm starting to see a separation between stomach fat and what is muscle. There is shape, people!!

 

â— Good food day: Semi-done!

I feel like I had a good day of food today, and even have 500 calories left that I could eat if I liked! But because of WHAT I've eaten (that being five biscuits and a pasta ready meal), it looks like I've had all the carbohydrates today and no protein. Yet I've eaten oatmeal with banana, an apple, added tomatoes to my dinner and my commute walk and workout must have gone towards something. It just feels strange to not have a successful day on paper yet I feel like I have. Hmm.

 

â— Good sleeps: Yes! Done!!
I had a headache all Sunday and couldn't shift it, probably because of the late night from before. But that's ok, the light was off by 11pm and I had the best sleep ever, no lie.

 

â— Guitar Practice: Not today.

The evening's been fairly packed for me, workout, shower, dinner, phoning mum, updating here, planning meals and about to skype bf. Will try tomorrow perhaps?

[EVEArgent]

I find that the days I work out are the days I sleep the best. I actually didn't make the connection, my boyfriend did. He said the last time you slept through the night was the last time you worked out. Sounds like exhausting your body with work out with a bedtime equals best sleep ever. Lights off is definitely the hardest. My boyfriend will often sit in bed next to me on his phone and its bright and distracting, and he snores. I have a sleeping mask and earplugs I've been neglecting that maybe need to come out.

 

 

(After going to sleep at 11:30pm, I usually wake up once around 2am and then again around 6:15 because I just do, but I don't want to. .. I wonder how my body would handle it if I just started getting up when I wake up at 6:15 when I am not tired anymore. I usually try unsuccessfully to go back to sleep until 8 and then I'm miserable and tired and grumpy.)

[Tkdgirl]

Well done on another good day.

Just looked and it seems little big planet is only available on playstation and I have an Xbox 360. Boo!

Good luck figuring out the food thing. I think I really need to start looking at macros - I can easily eat within my calorie allowance but I'm still heavily overeating carbs despite trying to cut them down.