jstanlick: Back from the dead?

[jstanlick]

We'll see. My last challenge was in March. My training and nutrition has been on hiatus with the exception of running t miles a week. Motivation has been lacking to train. I have however finished remodelling a bathroom and an almost done with the kitchen whilst maintaining a day job.

So, this challenge will be about regaining motivation and habit. Simply put, baby steps.

1) Literally. 70,000 steps a week. I spend too much time sitting at work and I need to move more. So, steps as logged by my FitBit.

2) Lift. Ripping out tubs, cabinets and floors might take some strength, but it's not regular enough to build or keep strength. Resistance training at least 3x per week.

We'll start with that for the rest of this challenge.

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[jstanlick]

So, Tapatalk told me there was an error contacting the server, but I see the original post got posted anyway.

 

Update: Despite spending the weekend laying the new floor in the kitchen I did manage to get in plenty of steps. According to the FitBit, I amassed 31,859 steps in the last 2 days. I still came in 3rd in a Weekend Warrior challenge with some co-workers ( out of 9 participants ). So, yesterday's 14,215 steps hit my goal for the first day of the week. Today might be hard as I find myself stuck behind my desk. I guess the dog and I are going for a long walk when I get home.

 

No resistance training yet, unless you count wrangling the old fridge out of the house and into storage for someone to pick up today. Planning on tomorrow morning to get some of that in.

[jstanlick]

I had met my daily goal for 6 days straight until getting chained to my desk at work yesterday. But I'm well on track to finish the week over 70,000 steps. I might even make it to 80k.

Tuesday and Thursday were SL days. Felt good getting back into lifting. Today is going to be squats, BP, and rows.

I actually had someone at my men's group that I haven't seen since July ask me if I had lost weight. Which is weird because the scale is about the same as then and I haven't been training at all.

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[erawka]

I actually had someone at my men's group that I haven't seen since July ask me if I had lost weight. Which is weird because the scale is about the same as then and I haven't been training at all.

 

Sometimes the effects of a break are flattering? That's great that you're going to your group again. Social support is key.

 

Also, way to stay on track with the steps! It's nice to be ahead enough to miss a day. What sort of device do you use for your tracking?

[jstanlick]

Sometimes the effects of a break are flattering? That's great that you're going to your group again. Social support is key.

Also, way to stay on track with the steps! It's nice to be ahead enough to miss a day. What sort of device do you use for your tracking?

I got a FitBit as a Christmas gift from my Mom last year. I had been using it to track my sleep and the alarm on it to wake up in the morning because it just vibrates on your wrist. That way it doesn't wake up my wife or the puppy. Although she wakes up as soon as I start moving, but this way it get to move before she pounces on my head.

The men's group took the summer off, so we're back at it again. Its in the morning before work, which is early in the morning to address some of the topics we take on, but I decided the inner me needs as much work as the outer me

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[jstanlick]

Three days since my last progress type update and 3 days of making my steps. Although, last night I went to bed with 10,203 steps for the day, but as far as goals go, that was still 203 extra steps 

 

Joined a weekday challenge with some co-workers just to make sure getting my steps in stays at the forefront of my mind. We started it yesterday and as of this writing the guy in the lead already has 29,002 steps. 2nd place is at 19,991 and I'm currently in 3rd at 18,186. How does one get so many steps in a day and a half of time?!? Oh well, I'm just trying to hit my goals and not worry about what anyone else is doing.

 

This morning included more lifting. I feel so much better after lifting. I don't know if its a sense of accomplishment or what. But, after some deep squats, I just feel...empowered. There's something about lifting heavy things that adds to one's confidence.

[sozzielou]

Great walking, glad to see you are getting back on track. Desk jobs can be awful for getting up and walking about.

[jstanlick]

Great walking, glad to see you are getting back on track. Desk jobs can be awful for getting up and walking about.

 

Turns out Mondays and Fridays are my Kryptonite. Busy catching up things that happened over the weekend and trying to prevent them from happening the next weekend I guess. But, damn, I rock the weekends!

[jstanlick]

Okay, so I joined the challenge late and did a crappy job of keeping this updated. I also only had 2 goals, moving and lifting. I did okay, but not stellar. Here's the results:

 

Walking: For the 3 weeks I was in the challenge I totalled 77680, 96089 and 73834 steps. So, I made my minimum for all those weeks. I'll take that as a win! The big week in the middle including a camping trip that totaled almost 26,000 steps in a single day. But, as I said above, each of those weeks I missed 10,000 on Fridays and once on a Monday. Something to keep in mind in the future.

 

Lifting: Hmmm, the goal was 3x a week. Each week I managed 2x. Missed something there. Although, my pace times on my longer Saturday runs were all faster after I started the lifting than the weeks prior to it. I don't know if I can credit the lifting or the concentration on getting my steps in. In any case, the increased running pace over 4 miles was a welcome change.

 

Overall, in the last month I've managed to lose 4 pounds while increasing (ever slowly) my strength and endurance. I'll take that and call it a huge win! 

 

Well, that's where I stand after these 3 weeks. I think I'll try to continue and improve on those over the course of the fall as the weather turns colder here in Wisconsin. If I can manage 70,000 each week throughout the winter I think that'll be a good life change for the future. Additionally, if I can become more consistent with the lifting, that can only be a good thing.