Let's Get Down To Business.. [Krazi3man's Recruit Challenge!]

[Krazi3man]

 To accomplish...my goals. HOOAH!   (My love for Mulan is showing)

 

Hey all! I'm Krazi3man, or Chris. This is my first challenge and I'm really excited. 

 

 

Main Quest: My main quest is to improve my overall strength and lower my body fat percentage to the "fitness" level 16%. Over the years my strength and body fat have both been issues. I've lost a good 30 pounds 2 years ago but it just seems to creep up and down with bad diets and intermittent exercising. 210lbs, to 180, 190, 200, down to 175, and now it's creeping its way back to 190. It's time to make it a lifestyle choice, not a diet!

For a while I thought of strength as sheer power. Body builder type looks. I thought that is what I had to be in order to be strong, which I disliked. Buff and ripped is not my cup of tea. Then I saw gymnasts and parkour/freerunners and the likes. Lean muscle, and very strong. One legged squats and flagpoles. That's strength too, and I'd love to be able to do those advanced moves as well as parkour. That's my goal

 

Quest 1: Do Steve's Beginner Body Weight Workout routine (also adding pullups) 3 days a week for the 6 weeks, non-consecutive days. I do this every now and again. Maybe once every 2 or 3 weeks when I lurked around. Now it's time to kick it into high gear and be consistent! 

I'll be using 35lb weights for 2 sets and split the last set with 20lbs until I can do all 3 sets with 35s. Building strength

 

Measurement: A = 18 days BBWW, B = 14 days BBWW, C = 10 days BBWW

Reward: A = +3 STR, +2 STA; B = +2 STR, +1 STA; C = +1 STR

 

Quest 2: Water water water! Minus the protein shake I have in the mornings, restrict to drinking at least 8 glasses of water throughout each day. I spend so much money on pop and gatorade and monster. This will save me money too 

 

Measurement: A = 42 days 8 glasses, B = 35 days 8 glasses, C = 28 days 8 glasses

Reward: A = +3 CON, +2 WIS; B = +2 CON, +1WIS; C = +1 CON

 

Quest 3: Speed Rope for 15 minutes 2 days a week for 6 weeks, non-consecutive days. I enjoy roping and I'm getting back into it. It's a good cardio workout. I consider the BBWW a weight training regime and for fat loss I'll also do a little cardio through the week. I can do this! A great factor of fat loss is diet. Lately, it's been getting worse and worse, so I'll change this quest to focus more on my diet. Furthermore, thanks to some mini challenges I partook in, I'm no where near ready to successfully workout every day. I'll be challenging myself to eat a healthy breakfast and dinner 6 days a week. Going to have a cheat day

 

Measurement: A = 36 days healthy, B = 30 days healthy, C = 24 days healthy

Reward: A = +3 CON; B = +2 CON; C = +1 CON

 

Life Quest: Get 6-8 hours of sleep a night, 5 days a week for 6 weeks. I sleep, but maybe 4 hours a night on a good night. Watching full seasons in a night (Curse you Netflix!) and playing video games for 12+ hours straight through the night are some bad habits I need to kick out.  I'll need more sleep for better recovery and overall health/well-being. I'll be putting away electronics for the last 30-60min before sleep and grab a book. Hopefully sleeping by 2am

 

Measurement: A = 30 days 6-8hrs sleep, B = 23 days 6-8hrs sleep, C = 16 days 6-8hrs sleep

Reward: A = +3 CON, B = +2 CON, C = +1 CON

 

 

Motivation: I want to be able to do fun and cool looking advanced body weight movements. Vanity aside, I want to have a healthy and functioning body. Being overweight is common in my family and I've lost too many due to health complications from it. I do not want to be a part of that system. I want to be able to run around and play with my kids when that day comes around

[Krazi3man]

BBWW 18/18 days

100%

100%

Healthy breakfast & dinner 25/36 days

69.44%

69.44%

8 glasses of water 31/42 days

73.81%

73.81%

6+ hours of sleep 25/30 days

83.33%

83.33%

Date: Weight    BF%
6/8     184.3      21.7
6/15   187.0      21.9
6/22   190.0      22.0
6/29   188.7      
7/6     191.4      20.5
7/13   193.8

7/19   192.2

Campus Tours
Week One: Smart - Completed +1 WIS end of challenge

[Gryph]

Can you speed rope now?  I've always wanted to be able to, but I've never been able to get my feet to cooperate.  Any tips?

[Krazi3man]

Can you speed rope now?  I've always wanted to be able to, but I've never been able to get my feet to cooperate.  Any tips?

As of right now, I can go a good 30 seconds of speed roping then I have to slow down. 

What I did was start off slow. Do single jumps at an average pace, like how people jump in gym class in school. It trains yourself to understand when to jump. As you get more comfortable, start speeding things up. Turn rope first, jump second. It's all about timing and takes practice and practice to get it down. Don't give up!  

[Gryph]

My jumping rope usually goes something like... Jump jump jump damn. Jump jump jump damn. It's gonna be awhile...

[Krazi3man]

My jumping rope usually goes something like... Jump jump jump damn. Jump jump jump damn. It's gonna be awhile...

hey it's better than jump jump damn jump jump damn.  Just keep at it!

[Blaidd]

i used to be very good at jump rope, but now for some reason i keep slapping myself in the back of the head with my rope - no matter how long i make it. 

 

You might notice that someone has added a tag to your post.  This is not to box you into a corner but rather because your goals or lifestyle have links to the guild you've been tagged and we'd like to bring you to the attention of one of their guild ambassadors. These ambassadors will be able to offer you advice, encouragement and support on your goals.  You don't even have to wait around for them to come introduce themselves to you, you are more than welcome to pop into the Assassins' board and introduce yourself to the guildies there. I am also around to answer any questions that you might have so do not hesitate to PM me.

 

Good Luck with your challenge

AB xx

[Krazi3man]

update: noticing I'm not really paying attention to what I've been eating through the day, if I do eat. Junk junk junk with little healthy. Soooooo to kick that out, I'm changing a workout quest to focus more on my diet for this challenge. 

[Krazi3man]

Less than a day till my first 6WC!!! I'm so pumped

 

[Krazi3man]

Mini Challenge Week 1: SMART

 

Week 1 - Let's Get SMART

So you've set up your challenge and people have popped in and said hi, given you some advise on your goals and just generally cheered you on for the start of your challenge. There's so much information to go that sometimes it seems like you're being overwhelmed.  How do I allocate attribute points?  Which guild do I join? What should my workout look like? Can I join an Accountability Squad?

 

You don't need to worry about these things right now.  What you do need to worry is your challenge.  For this first week you should be focusing on your own quests.  Once you're comfortable with them you can move onto other questions. Your mini quest this week will to really really look at your goals and make sure that they're SMART. 

 

S = Specific

M = Measurable

A = Attainable/Achievable

R = Realistic/Reasonable

T = Timeous

 

Here are some questions to put your goals to the test:

1. Is your overall quest achievable (over a short or long period of time)?  Is it reasonable? My overall quest is a reasonable long term goal. Continue building strength and reach an "athletic" body fat percentage

2. Do your 3 quests all build towards your main quest in little ways, or are you taking on too much? Do your quests have sub-quests or is it just one thing to focus on? My 3 quests do build towards my main quest in little ways. I was taking on too much but changed one of the quests to be better suited towards my main goals. BBWW starts building basic strength while water and eating healthy are some keystones to losing body fat 

3. Are your main goals realistic? Can you scale them to smaller steps to fit your life better, even if it will make it take a little longer to achieve them? If need be, which I don't believe to be the case, I can scale them down. Instead of the 3 sets for BBWW start with 2, or 1. Reduce to eating just a healthy breakfast each day, etc. 

4. Are your goals able to be measured and tracked?  What will you use to track them? My overall strength of the weeks for the challenge will measure my success towards BBWW. It will feel more and more easier at which I'll have to modify the movements to be more challenging. Water intake I am making tallies through the day and as for food, I may either post what I eat or just track the calories using mfp 

5. How are you grading your goals?  Are they pass/fail (“every dayâ€, “not even once over the six weeksâ€)?  Is there a reward for the effort, or are you only grading yourself on whether or not you “lose the weight†or “run the distanceâ€? My reward system are the attribute points and overall comfort that I am working towards my main goal. A's, the max grade, are only rewarded if I complete the goal 100%. 

6. What is your plan for continuing/altering/grading those goals if you become ill or injured? Should I become ill or injured, I will shift the grading of the workouts if I'm not recovered after a few days. instead of 18 days of 18 for an A, it will be 16 days of 18, and drop the other grades by 2 points as well.

7. Did you take into consideration any special occasions (Labour Day, Independence Day, birthdays, anniversaries, etc) that may occur during the challenge?  What modifications do you need to build into your goals for those? I did take in special occasions, and they should not factor into any modifications 

8. Do any of your main goals conflict with each other? Will one goal make it hard to do another? I don't think so. At first they did, but with this set up I have, I believe they help each other out. Workouts to get awake and feeling good and building strength. Healthy foods to have energy and water to keep hydrated and healthy. All work towards my main goals 

9. Do you already have the time in your schedule to actually complete the goals you’ve set?  If not, what are you planning to do to make time for them? I do have plenty of time in my schedule to complete my goals. I think the only pain would be dinner, as I don't get off work until 8pm and then may not be home until midnight at times. I will most likely accomadate that by preparing dinners ahead of time and eating it before I leave work 

10. Are you trying to build multiple habits, or is all your energy focused on your main quest? I am building multiple habits that all focus on reaching my main quest. Drink water and eat healthy everyday, as well as have a consistent workout plan. 

[Krazi3man]

Completed BBWW. 2 sets. Kinda disappointed in myself actually, since 2 weeks ago I was able to complete 3 sets. Maybe still recovering from the mini challenge I partook in? Or a lack of awakeness since I only got 3 hours of sleep last night. I'll aim 6+ each night so I have the morning energy to whip out these sets.

[mom2sjm]

You've put a lot of thought into your challenge goals!  A couple ideas for your diet goal:  

 

1.  have you considered a food log?  seeing it in black and white is really eye opening.  when I was struggling with weight loss I didn't realize how huge my portions had become over the years.  I have 3 boys plus my husband and I would eat the same size chicken they'd eat.  When I started a food log I actually weighed the chicken before serving it - I was eating 8 ounces of chicken  which is fine for a teenage boy, but not for me.  More like 4 ounces.  So it wasn't just my food choices, but the portions which I didn't really know until I started logging my meals.  I didn't do anything fancy, just wrote it down in a notebook.  then I started using the log to make changes.  eventually I did go the myfitnesspal route but it can be overwhelming so maybe, keep it simple to start.  

 

2.  old school lunch box style for dinners.  I am constantly in my car driving my boys from one place to the other and sometimes I wouldn't get home until after 8pm and not eaten dinner.  Now I do food prep on the weekend for like 2-3 days so if I know I'm going to have a busy night I can just grab stuff and go.  I cut up 2 cups worth of veggies and put them in ziplocks (like carrots, bell peppers, cucumbers - stuff you can eat with your fingers while driving) - 3-6 bags of these 2cup serving sizes.  I'd prep 1-2 salads (1 cup kale + 1 cup mixed cut veggies) and 1-2 protein leftovers into 4 ounce servings - sometimes plain (like 4 ozs of chicken, or drain a can of tuna and have it in a container ready to grab)  to mix with the salad.  Having a 2-3 days worth of grab and go food helped alot.  I just grabbed what would work for that day (in the car - leftover finger foods, at the boys' swim meet - bring food I could nuke in the pool's microwave).  This worked great for busy days.

 

3.  know where your healthy fast food places are - panera bread and chipotle have saved me many a busy night.

 

Don't get overloaded!  Keep it simple - you'll get the hang of it.  It's easy to get caught up in the fun but I think you made the right choice to scale back your goals and focus two of them on diet.  It's the biggest part of weight loss.

[Asa Pond]

This is an awesome challenge write up! So excited to see how it goes for you!!!

 

Completed BBWW. 2 sets. Kinda disappointed in myself actually, since 2 weeks ago I was able to complete 3 sets.

 

Don't be disappointed. You did it! It's a great start to the challenge, and sometimes are bodies just have minds of their own. Doesn't mean you don't have the ability to do 3 sets, it just means that today - something wasn't quite right to allow you to do it! Keep it up and soon you'll be disappointed you were only able to do 3 on a given day.

[Krazi3man]

You've put a lot of thought into your challenge goals!  A couple ideas for your diet goal:  

 

1.  have you considered a food log?  seeing it in black and white is really eye opening.  when I was struggling with weight loss I didn't realize how huge my portions had become over the years.  I have 3 boys plus my husband and I would eat the same size chicken they'd eat.  When I started a food log I actually weighed the chicken before serving it - I was eating 8 ounces of chicken  which is fine for a teenage boy, but not for me.  More like 4 ounces.  So it wasn't just my food choices, but the portions which I didn't really know until I started logging my meals.  I didn't do anything fancy, just wrote it down in a notebook.  then I started using the log to make changes.  eventually I did go the myfitnesspal route but it can be overwhelming so maybe, keep it simple to start.  

 

2.  old school lunch box style for dinners.  I am constantly in my car driving my boys from one place to the other and sometimes I wouldn't get home until after 8pm and not eaten dinner.  Now I do food prep on the weekend for like 2-3 days so if I know I'm going to have a busy night I can just grab stuff and go.  I cut up 2 cups worth of veggies and put them in ziplocks (like carrots, bell peppers, cucumbers - stuff you can eat with your fingers while driving) - 3-6 bags of these 2cup serving sizes.  I'd prep 1-2 salads (1 cup kale + 1 cup mixed cut veggies) and 1-2 protein leftovers into 4 ounce servings - sometimes plain (like 4 ozs of chicken, or drain a can of tuna and have it in a container ready to grab)  to mix with the salad.  Having a 2-3 days worth of grab and go food helped alot.  I just grabbed what would work for that day (in the car - leftover finger foods, at the boys' swim meet - bring food I could nuke in the pool's microwave).  This worked great for busy days.

 

3.  know where your healthy fast food places are - panera bread and chipotle have saved me many a busy night.

 

Don't get overloaded!  Keep it simple - you'll get the hang of it.  It's easy to get caught up in the fun but I think you made the right choice to scale back your goals and focus two of them on diet.  It's the biggest part of weight loss.

 

See for me I'm good with portion sizes, I just don't eat enough through the day. I'll ocassionally have a breakfast and when I'm hungry I'll have a snack here or there. I can easily go a few days where I only drink water or some other beverage and I wouldn't have a problem. Pure laziness is all. That's what I need to fix. The lunch box styled dinners I'll definitely give a shot though!  Thanks for your input

This is an awesome challenge write up! So excited to see how it goes for you!!!

 

 

Don't be disappointed. You did it! It's a great start to the challenge, and sometimes are bodies just have minds of their own. Doesn't mean you don't have the ability to do 3 sets, it just means that today - something wasn't quite right to allow you to do it! Keep it up and soon you'll be disappointed you were only able to do 3 on a given day.

Yeah something wasn't quite right, I think it's just my "go big or go home" mentality and didn't do as much as I'd like but you're right! I started the challenge and I'll hit a point where 3 sets is childs play 

[Krazi3man]

Did a static core workout:

 

Exercise                set 1        set 2       set 3 

Hollow stance        10sec     13sec      11sec

Plank                     46sec      45sec      40sec

Side Plank             35sec      40sec      35sec

Superman             15reps     15reps    15reps

 

Core is on fire right now, and time to get ready for work because my silly nice self agreed to coming in earlier without officially talking about when I'd leave today. Sooooo I may be pulling a 12 hour day? I'll be engaging my core throughout the day and see how that goes. I definitely need to build it up if I want to achieve handstands and flagpoles and such in the long run

 

Last night dinner:

8oz Pork chop with steak seasoning and drizzled in flashbang hot sauce (not for faint of heart)

2lbs steamed frozen broccoli, cauliflower, carrots

2 glasses of water

 

 

Breakfast:

2 eggs, scrambled

protein shake

half a cup of spinach

3 cups watermelon slices

[Krazi3man]

Woot to sleep! I got 7 hours of sleep last night, though since I'm not used to it, I'm pretty groggy lol. No bbww this morning. I'll do that tomorrow morning. 

 

Dinner last night: 

Salmon w/ broccoli 

2 glasses of water

 

Breakfast:

2 eggs, scrambled

protein shake

Granny smith apple

1lb broccoli 

 

Oh how I love broccoli! Cheap frozen, and easy! Just steam and good to go! I can eat broccoli at every meal and never tire of it. Though it's great, I need to eat more foods that are higher in calories as the daily calories I've had have been around 1000-1200 when they should be around 1700. I'll push to 1300-1500 first and increase my intake as my workouts intensify. I remember putting on a lot of weight with my drastic calorie intake surplus with lack of counteracting it with exercise. 

 

Worked the core again today though! I've had gym teachers tell me the core recovers quickly and should be worked everyday, and I've seen articles concur with this notion, though I've seen counterarguments stating like any other muscle, it needs at least 24 hours of rest. Is there any rhyme/reason to either or does it vary person to person?

[Krazi3man]

Last check in was Wednesday morning. Well then, I have good news, great news, and bad news. So let's start in reverse shall we? 

 

Over the past 3 days, I've consumed 10+ cans of soda and energy drinks. Why? Your guess is as good as mine. Partially impulse buys and idk what other factors played. Maybe because they were on sale? I wanted to have something other than water when I was with friends? Not sure but I feel annoyed and disapproving of myself. BUT! I am aware of what has happened and it's time to remove those empty calories back out my system.

 

Good news, Including today, I've completed my BBWW for the week and it's time to rest up....kinda. While doing those workouts, work has been pretty brutal this week. I don't think I've included that anywhere in bio or profile or intro? Anyways, I work as a backroom team member at Target in Edina, one of the top 5 Target stores in the nation. Backroom job is to grab items hourly to put on a tub so the salesfloor team can put haul them out to the floor and stock the shelves. In the meantime, we backstock all the extra crap that didn't fit on the shelves. The most annoying thing this week has been pricechange, a process where we grab items on a list given to us, every single one of that item, and move to a section of the backroom to be clearance. It's all nice and dandy when it's like clothes or toys and such, but lately it's been furniture and lamps and bins. Hauling around 40lbs+ of items up and down ladders, aisles, picking them up and moving them around.....let's just say I'm EXTREMELY SORE and glad I have the day off before I start a 6 day work week. It's a great workout though so I'm looking at it positively.

 

Great news! So one of my main goals in terms of fitness is to successfully complete a pistol squat and go beyond. Yesterday, I was at the bus stop between transfers to work (I could've easily walked the 2 miles but eh, walking all day at work and sore so I'd wait for a bus lol ) and I saw the pole the bus sign was on and thought of pistol squats progression. Few sites, including Steve himself, shows a progression near the end where you hold on a pole to guide yourself down and up. Well I was out on a limb and tried it. SUCCESS! I was so pumped when I was holding the pole and squatting with one leg I pumped out 5 reps on each leg! I am closer to pistol squats than I thought and now I just need a pole or something near my place because I really don't want to just crank those out every other day at some random bus stop with people looking at me (not yet anyways? Idk, self-esteem problems) 

 

 

TL;DR,

Lots of soda lately. Bad Krazi3man. Self aware, fixing it

Sore from heavy workload at work + completed first week of bbww

PISTOL SQUAT PROGRESSION YES!!!!! 

[Ilham]

You have a great looking challenge and despite the soda thing, you're obviously making tremendous progress. I like how you sound excited! I'm sure you'll kill the six weeks.

[Krazi3man]

You have a great looking challenge and despite the soda thing, you're obviously making tremendous progress. I like how you sound excited! I'm sure you'll kill the six weeks.

 

2 steps forward, 1 step back, Come out ahead

Fall, get back up. 

 

Yeah I'm really really excited! Thanks  

[Krazi3man]

Woot week one in the bag for me! 

 

3/3 workout days

6/6 healthy breakfast/dinner days (today is my cheat day)

7/7 water days (today is last and shouldn't be a problem)

5/5 days 6+hours of sleep

 

First week has been a success with a few speed bumps but I completed the first week and it feels great! 

My only concern is soreness. I do a lot of heavy lifting, climbing, walking (walk a good 30k steps a day at work). My only real recovery day is fridays since i don't work. Is there any way to mitigate the soreness and help with recovery? I don't want to injure myself by working out with a sore body >.< 

[Chris-Tien Jinn]

Soreness .....

 

A few things to consider .....

 

Are you doing a good cool down and stretch after workouts?

 

You might want to also look into a foam roller and check out mobilityWOD.com for ideas for recovery and making sure you have good form while working out.  

 

It's also possible that you want to make at least one workout a light one, in addition to a day of rest each week.  Muscles grow while recovering!!!

[Krazi3man]

Soreness .....

 

A few things to consider .....

 

Are you doing a good cool down and stretch after workouts?

 

You might want to also look into a foam roller and check out mobilityWOD.com for ideas for recovery and making sure you have good form while working out.  

 

It's also possible that you want to make at least one workout a light one, in addition to a day of rest each week.  Muscles grow while recovering!!!

 

Thanks for the tips. I may invest in a roller. My form is good, though I've discussed in other topics that my pullup form was terrible so starting at the basics in that. 

It's not so much the form, or type of workouts, it's just that I do a lot of manual labor at work, so I don't have much rest. My work schedule goes like this:

11:30am-8pm every shift

Monday-Thursday, Friday off, Saturday-Thursday, Friday-Sunday off, rinse repeat.

I'll try out reducing one of my workout days to 1 or 2 sets of BBWW instead of the 3 and since I have every Friday off, I'll consider that my full rest day. 

[Tavern Brawler]

Unless it's pain from injury, there's nothing inherently dangerous/bad about DOMS.  It's just... annoying.  I usually give myself a couple of weeks with a new routine to get used to the change-up.  If pain is still an issue (or other things like mood swings, tiredness, etc. crop up) then I re-evaluate my program, add rest days, etc.

[BitterOyster]

I had to look up pistol squats and they look pretty cool! Well, a bit dorky actually, but it'd be really cool to have the strength and balance to be able to do them.

[Krazi3man]

Day 3 of Week 2.

 

Been a few days since I've updated. Been pretty lazy. I've done my 2 of 3 workouts for the week (monday and today), however, this week I've been neglecting water and eating healthy dinners. I would have this great mindset in the morning before leaving, what I'd eat for dinner. Have it all planned out and such. Then when I got home after these rough work days, I'd have no motivation to cook. Impulse buy a bag of chips, crawl into my bed, play games and call it a night. I think I'll have to start prepping food, like over the weekend cook food for the week and store it so all I have to do is nuke it.

Been pretty reserved, more so than usual so idk what's going on. 

 

2.1: workout, water, breakfast, no dinner. 3 hours sleep

2.2: not enough water, no breakfast, no dinner. 7 hours sleep

2.3: workout, breakfast