Cephalopod Dreams battles inertia

[Cephalopod_Dreams]

Sooo.... not entirely sure about this battle log business but I'll give it a go. If nothing else it's a good place for me to record my long term goals and such.

 

I'm 2 and a half weeks into my first challenge and this is where I stand: I'm female, 25 years old, 5'2" and 9st 11lbs (that's 157cm and 137lbs). I started attending Karate (Shotokan) 2 years ago in an attempt to get fit, and while it's definitely made a difference I want to step up my game. I ride a 700cc motorcycle so I need to get stronger to handle that, and I want to work on my strength to improve my karate performance. I also want to lose some weight (read: fat) as I have a chronic pain condition and the bigger I am the more it hurts.

 

Long term goals are to:

• Reduce my weight to approximately 8st 5lbs (119lbs / 54 kg). This should help reduce my chronic pain and generally give me more confidence in my appearance.
• Improve my strength, stamina and flexibility to achieve my black belt; if i train hard I could have it in 3 - 4 years.
• Learn to lift heavy. My motorbike weighs 180kg (397lbs) so it's pretty heavy! At the moment if for any reason it ends up on the ground I'm completely stuffed as I can't lift it by myself. Ideally I want to be able to get it off the floor on my own.

I'm planning to achieve this by breaking my goals down into a series of 6 week challenges, eating clean and leaning on the NF community to keep me engaged and committed. I've also revived my Habitica account to help with habits and goal setting.

 

I will be someone who exercises 3 times a week, so I have a body that I like when I look in the mirror, a body that I can be proud of. 

I will be someone who doesn't drink alcohol on week nights unless there's an event / special occasion.

I will be someone who is strong, confident and capable.

 

That's enough for now. More updates to come.  

 

Edit: Found the attribute guides: Creating your Character and Leveling Up. Also: Challenge Instructions for my own reference. 

[SevenofSeven]

Hey, hey CD, welcome to NF.

Ohh, what sort of bike do you have? My partner has a Ducati 1098, I'm hoping to get a Ducati Scrambler in the next 18 months. At the moment my bike riding consists of blurting around our proprerty on our Yamaha 250 road/trail.

Good luck with your fitness journey.

[Cephalopod_Dreams]

Hi Seven of Seven :-) I have a 700cc Yamaha MT07. It's pretty light for its size as it's a modern bike but still pretty heavy for me!

[Cephalopod_Dreams]

Update: a nasty cold has knocked me on my ass for week four. Lots of plans with friends over the weekend led to too much booze and then my cold meant no karate on Monday. Trying to stick to healthy eating while I wait to recover but I feel like I'm still relying too much on motivation rather than habit.

I still haven't managed to take my before pictures or my measurements. It's easy to say that I haven't had time but the truth is that I haven't made it a ptiority. The same goes for actually joining my SOs gym, as I had plenty of plans for that but that hasn't materialised either.

Trying very hard not to let a couple of naughty days derail my progress, but it would help if I knew I'd lost more than one pound in the last fortnight.

[Cephalopod_Dreams]

So no karate yesterday either, and no body weight workouts this week. Feeling a bit like a failure but this damn cold has now hit my chest and my asthmatic lungs have completely given up. Trying to make healthy food choices in lieu of exercise is proving extra difficult.

 

In the last 8 days I've had not one but two bad hospital appointments. The short version is my chronic, incurable pain which we thought could be treated is resisting all treatment and there's nothing more anyone can do. Time to learn to live with it.

 

I'm trying to hold on to the things I learned in CBT about focusing on the positive ; after all this is why i'm trying to improve my strength and my body so that I have good emotions associated with my body, rather than disappointment at all the things it cant do. But truth be told I'm finding it really, really hard this week. 

[Cephalopod_Dreams]

Well after a week of bad health and no exercise I have amazingly still managed to lose weight. I'm down to 9 stone 8, so it's not a lot lost but slow and steady should at least stay off.

I was even brave and managed to take some 'before' photos. All in all, not too bad.

 

[SevenofSeven]

I don't know which I am more impressed with, the size of your thigh tattoo or the Adveture Time undies! So cool!

So what tattoos do you have and how many? I have 6 and plan on another after swimming lessons finish. I never figured they would be so addictive!

[Cephalopod_Dreams]

Thanks Seven :-) I also have 6 tattoos. The one you can see in the picture is my succubus. I also have a dias de los muertos tattoo on the other thigh that's about the time same size, a cephalopod half sleeve on my right arm and a few others. I'll make sure to take my next set of progress pics from the other side.

What do you have?

[SevenofSeven]

So cool! Would love to own a day of the dead skull but so scared it wouldn't turn out right.

My right arm has all my kids names and birth dates wrapped around it, my left arm forearm has an ancient Celtic cross with 8 people in it, my upper arm has an ancient stag ( found it on "the ice princess" from Syberia ), left leg has tribal rose ( my first act of rebellion tattoo at 17 ), my left foot has birds on it in the pride colours and my right leg has a gnarly tree with 7 skull apples. I love skulls and the next one I plan on is three skulls from my knee to ankle covering the whole calf on my left leg.

In the Pub Off Topic forum they did have a tattoo/piercing thread. Haven't checked it for a while.

[Cephalopod_Dreams]

Sounds cool! I like the idea of skull apples, bet that looks awesome My next one is likely to be a hannibal-inspired stag's head and anatomical heart, but I've got a whole animals of farthing wood / watership down sleeve planned for my left arm some time next year. I found an awesome tattooist whose style I love who lives just down the road from me, so hoping to get an appointment when her calendar opens up. 

 

I shall check out the Off Topic forum  

[Cephalopod_Dreams]

Today's bodyweight workout, easing myself back into the routine after a week of no exercise. Followed by an hour of karate.

3 sets

15 x bodyweight Squats

10 x Incline push up

20 x step Ups

:15 Plank

:30 star jumps

[Cephalopod_Dreams]

This week has been a little wobbly on the diet front but exercise is going well. Today was a modified bodyweight workout followed by an hour of karate

3 sets

15 x bodyweight Squats

10 x Incline push up

20 x step Ups

10 x dips

:15 Plank

:30 star jumps

My big problem diet wise is giving up alcohol. Like a lot of Brits I usually drink too much at the weekend, but it's the weekday drinking I'm struggling to give up. My partner usually has a drink in the evenings and I almost always join in. Then one drink arrives in two or three glasses. I'm not saying I'm getting drunk every night but it's got to the point where it's habitual and I could do without the calories.

Anyone got any tips on managing this?

[Cephalopod_Dreams]

I didnt get around to recording it at the time but last Thursday (22/10) I did

 

3 sets
15 x bodyweight Squats
10 x Incline push up
20 x step Ups
10 x single arm dumbell row (each arm)
:15 Plank
:30 star jumps

 

Didn't do karate on the Monday 19th as I wasnt well. Then went to Prague on Saturday 24th so didn't do karate Saturday either. In Prague all weekend, drinking too much booze and eating too many treats, then returned Monday with hideous food poisoning. Two days without eating and a third day barely eating means i've dropped half a stone and have had no energy for any exercise this week at all, karate or otherwise.

 

I suppose I can't blame myself too much when i'm sick, and my first ever 6 week challenge came to a close without too much disappointment so If the last couple of weeks haven't been a fitness win at least they havent been a loss either. 

[Cephalopod_Dreams]

Yay for me, back on track on day one of the new challenge. My Challenge Thread is up and I'm committed to doing better this time. fingers crossed. 

[SevenofSeven]

Ohhhh, Challenge Thread! Awesome!

[Cephalopod_Dreams]

First day of my second challenge and I've bitten the bullet and taken my measurements. I'm an old school girl and think in inches so I've deliberately taken my measurements in centimetres. This way I can track changes without making value statements about the numbers.

Bust : 87.5cm

R. Arm 28cm

L. Arm 27cm

Waist: 70cm

Hips: 95cm

R. Thigh 58cm

L. Thigh 59cm

R. Calf 37cm

L. Calf 37cm

Today's training involved a bodyweight workout adapted for me, followed by an hour of karate. Grading is in three weeks and it's been 6 months since I got my last belt, so I really really want this.

3 sets

15 x bodyweight Squats

10 x Incline push up

20 x step Ups

10 x dips

:15 Plank

:30 star jumps

[Cephalopod_Dreams]

Suffering DOMS in my thighs from my workout on Monday - maybe I didn't stretch out properly? Either that or my squat form is completely wrong as I swear I'm not engaging my glutes properly. I want more gains in the rear thank you very much!

 

On the plus side I've really stuck to my new mindfulness regime - i'm only two days in so it's too early to tell if it's making a difference but hopefully this will help me form a good habit.

 

Fingers crossed that my thighs will have recovered enough to do my bodyweight workout and karate tomorrow! 

 

I have actually been looking into another gym that is closer to my house. I love my karate group but it's full of small children which is annoying. Also i'm interested in trying other martial arts and this place does kick boxing and krav maga and muay thai and yoga which seems quite exciting. I'll have to use my 20 seconds of courage to book a couple of free lessons and give it a go. 

[SevenofSeven]

Berserker Mode! Just dooooo eeeeeeet!

If I could I would put in the appropriate Shia LeBouf gif!

[Cephalopod_Dreams]

Super proud of myself that I made it to karate tonight despite truly vile weather. I was inspired by the NF blog to mix up my work out so today I tried the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles workout:

MOBILITY AND BALANCE:

5-10 minutes of warm up, limbs and wrists

5 minutes wall plank, 15 secs at a time

POWER

3 circuits of vertical jumps and plyometric wall push ups

STRENGTH

3 sets of 10 reps of powerful LEG exercises - prisoner squats (working towards pistol squats)

3 sets of 10 reps of PULL movements - Incline rows (working towards archer pull ups)

3 sets of 10 reps of PUSH movements - Incline push ups (working towards handstand push ups)

COOL DOWN

5-10 minutes stretching out muscles.

Followed by an hour of karate.

Difficult workout and i'm only on the easiest level of it but surprisingly fun and I really feel it in my upper body.

[Cephalopod_Dreams]

Bad weekend for my diet goals and I didn't exercise either. However big life goals achieved as I sat down and worked out my budget, made room for a gym membership at my partners gym and convinced a friend to sign up with me! Haven't actually signed up yet but I have downloaded a timetable of the classes and between my friend and my partner I will have plenty of excuses to go!

I'm really excited about it as it's like all my plans are finally moving forward and coming together! And I've been talking so much about my fitness goals and how good it is for me to have something positive to work on that my partner is finally coming around to the idea of turning our shed into a home gym!

I even managed to use my mindfulness practise to control my stress and bad moods this weekend when the kids were driving me crazy. I've knocked loads of to dos off my list this week and even got my friends involved in habitica and nerd fitness so I'm feeling like a successful adult.

Now all I have to do is reign the diet back in and it will be perfect :-)

[Cephalopod_Dreams]

I missed karate yesterday due to work and my grading is in a fortnight and I have a million and one things to do at work and my pain is bad and my hospital wont return my calls and aaaarghhh!!!

 

*breathes*

 

ok... It's been a difficult couple of days so I'm going to focus really hard on mindfulness and healthy eating so I don't spiral any further and all i have to do is get through 3 hours of work and I can go home and see friends and relax. 

 

Really glad that I have this forum and the wonderful ladies on the NF Facebook group to turn to in times like this. 

[Cephalopod_Dreams]

I joined a gym yesterday! I had my induction today and was really happy that my fitness instructor was totally focused on functional strength rather than weight loss or cardio and she was really lovely showing me around the free weights.

My body fat was measured at 31.5%, which is the high end of normal so I need to reduce that a bit. On the plus side visceral fat was all the way down at 3% so yay!

Blood pressure is the low end of normal (114/70) and heart rate is the high end of normal (86bpm) but apparently that evens out so is OK.

I now have access to weights, assisted pull up machine and lots of interesting classes so I'm pretty excited about this.

[Cephalopod_Dreams]

I got permission to grade! I'm so excited, I'll be going for my 4th kyu belt on Monday. Fingers crossed!

My sensei also said that I have the best kiyagi (side snap kick) of the purple belts! Full disclosure: the other purple belts include two <12s, a 14 year old girl and two middle aged men, although they've all been training longer than me.

I'm feeling really excited about this!

[Cephalopod_Dreams]

Sorry for the lack of updates on this thread, it's all been going on in the challenge thread this last week. Summary:

 

1. I went to a yoga class at my gym on sunday and really enjoyed it! And my friend is going to come with me every sunday so hooray for new habits!

2. I passed my grading on Monday! Now 4th kyu so that's awesome!

3. I signed up to try a new weights class at my gym tonight. Looking forward to trying the classes and seeing what I can build into my schedule on a regular basis. 

[Cephalopod_Dreams]

Well I'll just got back from my "Body Pump" class at the gym. Mixed reviews really.

Pros:

- instructor was really friendly

- attendees were also friendly

- the exercises are easy to scale as I can choose my own weights

- I feel less intimidated than in the weight room

- I worked up a sweat

Cons:

- it's *all* about the reps

- I mean allllll about the reps - I don't think a single person in that room did one actual squat

- my form was awful

- while the instructor does offer verbal tips on form throughout I'm not sure that its going to help me learn to use weights properly

I'm going to give it a couple more sessions and see how I go. On the plus side the lesson today was mostly women who were super strong and impressive and able to do pushups and all sorts and I want to BE them!