AvatarAbe: Out of the Iceberg

[AvatarAbe]

Hello all!

 

So, this isn't actually my first challenge. I used to post here sporadically a couple of years ago, but I'm terrible at forums so I disappeared. Since then, I sort of fell off the fitness wagon (not helped by overdoing it and messing up my back a little), but now I've climbed back on it, and decided to try posting here again. I love the community and attitude here but I am terrible at forums...I always lose track of threads and then wander off. Taking another swing at it, and because it's been so long I'm treating this as if it were my first challenge. Here's to new beginnings!

 

Some vital stats:

 

Name: Abraham

Occupation: Transportation planner/engineer

Age: 27

Height: 5'10"

Weight: 207.5 lb

Currently obsessed with: Sense8, anything in Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere

Favorite color: Red

Max pull-ups: Hah.

 

Main Quest: I kind of struggled with this as there are a million things I'd like to accomplish. Since I plan to do many of these challenges, I think I'm going to follow the approach of a book series: each individual "book" (challenge) has its own plot/goal, but all adding to the overall series story arc / main quest. I'll hop around from guild to guild to correspond with whatever the main goals of each challenge are.

 

...you know, I'm pretty sure that's what you're supposed to do. I guess just thinking out loud helped!

 

Anyway, my snazzy catch phrase for the next 11 months is "build a body I'm proud of for Pride 2016."

• Part of this is aesthetics. This means a significantly lower body fat percentage (abs would be nice, but judging by my dad not having visible abs even when being in great shape in his 20's, they may not be in the cards...I'd be happy with a flat/firm torso), not having wet spaghetti for arms, etc. I imagine I'd be in the 175 ish pounds range, but this is more about how I look and feel than a number on the scale or even calipers. Basically, I want to feel totally at ease and comfortable taking my shirt off for the first time. Right now I'm uneasy in fitted t-shirts.
• It's not just about looking good though! Every May, my friend (who is a gym rat in good shape) does the Spartan Sprint, and so my performance goal is to be able to do that with him. I may not be able to keep up with him (though I will certainly try), but I want to be able to tackle the race confidently and have a reasonable shot at completing all the obstacles. This means I'll need to work towards getting stronger--especially in my upper body, which is severely lacking in the ability to do pull-ups, monkey bars, climb walls, or God forbid, rope climbs--as well as work on my endurance.

As an aside, Pride 2016 = last weekend in June 2016.

 

So that's the sneak peak of the series finale. But that's a ways off. The first step, and the main goal of this challenge, is to return to the healthy rhythm I had from mid 2013-mid 2014 and make fitness a lifestyle again. Once exercising and eating right are habits again, I can focus on more specific skills/weight-/time-/reps-/etc based goals in future challenges.

 

My specific goals in this six-week endeavor:

 

1. Work out at least four times a week. Five if my body is feeling up to it. Absolutely no less than three. My exercise program of choice is CrossFit--I love the variety and the team comaraderie, and contrary to what you might think, that isn't how I hurt my back, haha. I have a recurring appointment in my calendar for Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays at 6:45 am before work.
2. Mobilize, mobilize, mobilize. My core is very weak, my hamstrings and hip flexors are always tight, and I have trouble recruiting my glutes into movements...I'm a mess, mobility-wise, and that is how I ended up messing up my back. Back squats + weak core = compromised posture and too much stress on my lower back. Thankfully no herniation, but I had to take a break. Back squats are still on hold for a bit but I can front squat fine. Anyway, I will commit to doing 20+ minutes of mobility work, core strengthening, and stretching per day, as well as attending a weekly hour-long "Active Recovery" class at my gym after my Thursday workout. I even got my work schedule on Thursday pushed back so I could do the AR class.
3. Eat well, and make it home-cooked as often as possible. Going off various BMR calculators I have set a goal in MyFitnessPal for a 2,000 calorie/day limit (let me know if you think that sounds too low/high) in effort to start shedding some of these excess pounds. It's okay if a day or two is higher, if it averages out over the course of the week. A subsidiary of this goal is to cook as often as possible and to buy lunch at work no more than once per week.
4. Life goal: spend at least 30 minutes/day studying French. Another thing I started on a while ago and stopped. I'm very much a beginner here, but knowing English and two Romance languages (Spanish and Portuguese) should help with the vocabulary and grammar. That pronunciation though....

 

Well that's my incredibly verbose (re-)introduction! As annoying as it is to have fallen off the horse, the only thing you can do is get back on, and that's what I hope to accomplish. See you all around the forums!

[Tyburn Lil]

Keep on telling myself "Got to learn to love yourself and be proud, no matter how much you way" ... yeah, like that works

Good luck getting back on the bronco and sticking with it 

[kasey]

Hey, Looks like you have some good goals set up and you've scheduled in time so you can make it happen. 

 

I'm really not sure on the calories thing, but it sounds a little low on days when you are doing heaps of physical activity - like what looks like about 2-3 hours on thursday. But I'm no dietician, so I'll let other people weigh in on that one..

[AvatarAbe]

Hey, Looks like you have some good goals set up and you've scheduled in time so you can make it happen. 

 

I'm really not sure on the calories thing, but it sounds a little low on days when you are doing heaps of physical activity - like what looks like about 2-3 hours on thursday. But I'm no dietician, so I'll let other people weigh in on that one..

 

Thanks! Thursday isn't actually particularly more intense though. It's just a normal CrossFit class followed by an "Active Recovery" class which is basically just stretching and mobility work. It's actually pretty relaxing! Except for the lacrosse ball/foam rolling stuff. Ow.

[Luciana Valerosa Culming]

Congraz for respawning! It's important to stand back up, when we fell off. How did your first week go?

 

I like your goals. They are ambitious but achieveable. Good luck and best wishes for this challenge.

[AvatarAbe]

Congraz for respawning! It's important to stand back up, when we fell off. How did your first week go?

 

I like your goals. They are ambitious but achieveable. Good luck and best wishes for this challenge.

 

Thanks! And of course I promptly disappear again, because that's what I do. I'm worse than Aang...

 

First week and a half has mostly gone pretty well. Summary of how I've been doing on my goals so far:

 

1. Work out at least four times a week. Last week hit the gym four times. This week it's looking like only three though, because I did a workout that I probably shouldn't have tried and re-aggravated my back (though not NEARLY as bad as the first time, it's almost back to where I was before) so I took a couple of days off. Not quite ready to get back to deadlifts apparently, at least not with much volume.
2. Mobilize, mobilize, mobilize. Yep! I've done at least 15 minutes of mobility work after every workout and 20 before bed on every night except two so far (because contorting yourself and doing mobility work when you come home from the bar is...difficult).
3. Eat well, and make it home-cooked as often as possible. I've nailed the goal of bringing lunch 4/5 days out of the week. As far as calories, I've gone over a couple of days, but I've been able to balance it out by eating a bit under the following day so the two days average out. It does work that way....right?
4. Life goal: spend at least 30 minutes/day studying French. Struggled with this the first few days, but for the past 4 days or so I've been on it. I got absolutely destroyed on my first day of review, but eh...c'est la vie.

So overall a pretty decent start for me. Couldn't resist stepping on the scale a couple of days ago...looks like I've dropped about 1.5 lbs.

[Luciana Valerosa Culming]

That sounds like you had a strong start. keep moving. And I also think 2000 kcal is enough. Looking forward to see more.

[AvatarAbe]

So yesterday I did my first "Endurance WOD" at my CrossFit gym:

 

"10 rounds for time of:
10 Burpees
100 m Sprint
Rest 1:1"

 

This plus we had to jog from the gym to the outdoor track (which wasn't terribly far, about 3/4 mile), do some dynamic warmups/agility drills, and jog back afterwards. A lot of people said it reminded them of workouts they would do when they were on the football/soccer/etc team back in the day.

 

Um...I was basically destroyed haha. Running is a huge weakness of mine and it definitely showed. I could only end up doing 8 of the rounds, and ended up walking the last half of the distance back to the gym. But honestly, considering how long it's been, I'm just happy to have done as much as I did. The only reason I did the endurance class was because of my wonky schedule this week, but honestly, I think I'm going to start doing it weekly. Clearly I need it.