Lou186000 aims for the speed of lighter (and stronger)

[Lou186000]

 

fitness goals

• Follow Darebee's 30 days of gravity workout. 
  

This will go 2 days over the 4-week duration of the challenge. I'll start today so the finish day will coincide with the end of the NF challenge.

I'm looking forward to this. I've incorporated some Darebee exercises in my routines for the last few months but this will be the first time I've followed one of the programs.

• Drink at least 64oz water daily
  
• Weigh myself at least weekly
  

My last challenge I focused on strength training and as something of an experiment I made a conscious effort to not weigh myself at all. I really increased my strength over those six weeks and interestingly lost almost two pounds. However, I've put on weight over the past three months and I know myself well: if I'm looking at the scale at least once a week I'll lose weight because it makes me even more conscious of my food input (and yep, I track using MyFitnessPal). So the goal is not to specifically lose weight for this challenge, only to track my weight, which I believe will result in a loss.

• cook dinner at least 4 times a week
  

I'm really good at making/bringing healthy lunch and snacks to the office, but I've let my evening cooking slide a bit over the last three months. In retrospect, it's been a clear case of "cook fatigue." I've gotten tired of cooking, especially as I felt drained from the anxiety of doing well at the new job. Time to reinvigorate that, get some pre-cooking done on the weekends so I'm ready for the week ahead.

 

life goals

 

Just as Fall 2015 was beginning I was laid off from the dayjob. The startup I was working for was floundering in rising debt and dwindling revenue and simply couldn't afford the IT manager any longer. Since I knew I'd (unfortunately) have more time on my hands, I did the next NF challenge and made it part of the life goals to basically "find a job, dammit." I got a job offer a couple of weeks after that challenge ended, and I'm currently finishing up my first two months at the new job. 

 

That goal necessarily eclipsed all other life goals at the time, but I want --- need --- to revive those. The primary goal is to exercise my musicianship. I'm currently involved in a fun music project that has me orchestrating and composing for a very nerdy indie film that will see a release at the end of 2016. The demands on my spare time for that project will wax and wane, but the bulk of my involvement should be finished this month. 

 

With this in mind, my goal for this challenge is to do something as a musician at least three times a week, which can be anything from this list:

• work on the film project
  
• work on new/original compositions
  
• play any instrument (guitar, fiddle, mandolin, etc)
  
• record new songs
  

I don't really need to set a minimum time for any of the activities in this list because once I start I quickly become immersed and lose track of time. If anything I'll have to put a cap on the session time so I don't stay up too late and hose my chances of rising on time for morning cardio.

 

So those are my goals for the challenge: a handful of fitness goals, and a personal/life goal to do something I love three times a week.

 

 

 

[WonderNatarella]

Hey Lou!

 

Nice to meet you! I find your goals very interesting (especially tracking your weight, for me it's the opposite : when on duty, I better go and forget the scale and focus on the process!)

 

I will be following you during the challenge and I wish you dedication, commitment and fun for your challenge!

[Lou186000]

Hey Lou!

 

Nice to meet you! I find your goals very interesting (especially tracking your weight, for me it's the opposite : when on duty, I better go and forget the scale and focus on the process!)

 

I will be following you during the challenge and I wish you dedication, commitment and fun for your challenge!

 

Thanks for the post, WN! It's indeed interesting how different techniques work for different people!

[Lou186000]

I had planned to start this yesterday, but wasn't able to put the energy together. Even today I did not want to get up and make it happen. BIG thanks to Raincloak and fitnessurl for the encouragement!

 

Day 1 of 30 Days of Gravity has been completed.

 

You know, I look at these awesome Darebee sheets and part of me thinks, "Hey, this cartoon guy gets through these pretty easily, I should be able to do it without too much trouble." And after ten minutes I'm cursing the cartoon guy. But also feeling good for attempting it at all.

 

I'll keep track of my goals in this handy dandy Google Drive spreadsheet.

 

Only 29 days to go!

 

 

 

 

[Lou186000]

Down 4.6 lbs since my weigh-in on Dec 30. Relieved to have the scale going in the right direction again.

 

 

 

[Solunaria]

Good luck. Keep at it.

[Lou186000]

Got a lunchtime walk in, which was nice. The motivation to walk at lunch is helped by the investment I made in a Doctor Who audio drama from Big Finish. Tons o' fun listening to that, and the 30 minutes of walking zips by very quickly.

 

Also just finished Day 2 of 30 Days of Gravity. HARD. The exercise finishes with "three sets of push-ups to failure" --- well, failure came sooner than I would have liked, but dang I made the effort. That's what the NF challenge is about for me, making the effort.

 

Off to watch some Star Trek, as The Voyage Home is on Netflix.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Lou186000]

Good luck. Keep at it.

 

Thanks Solunaria!

[WonderNatarella]

You are already rocking it I see! Well done for the badassery!

[Lou186000]

You are already rocking it I see! Well done for the badassery!

 

Thanks WonderNatarella, I appreciate that!

[Lou186000]

Egads, Day 3 of 30 Days of Gravity is hard. For me, anyway. I was able to do Level 2 on the reps and Level 1 on the Raised Leg Hold.

 

One thing I like about the exercises that are really hard: it's really easy to tell when I've gotten stronger. 

 

Despite the difficulty of today's strength exercise, it lasted only 12 minutes. Followed it up with a good hard 30-minutes of elliptical. 

 

Now it's shower and bed.

[Lou186000]

Today was Day 4 of the program. A little longer than yesterday's workout, today's was all about flexibility. I managed to do the Level 3 workout of 1 min each, though I'll concede my form needs some work since I never do flexibility work. And my splits was actually pretty scary. I could have gone lower but it felt very much like there would have been a point of no return, so I controlled as best I could for the two-minute duration. In the future I might do this one in my running shoes to provide a little more traction than bare feet on the carpet provide.

 

I also managed to get elliptical in this morning, a walk in during lunch, and got in all my water today too. 

 

And today I felt the energy. I'm more used to feeling it than I was say, two years ago when I had no inkling of the feeling. These days it's not unheard of for me, but it's still nice to feel it. It comes after a few days of attention to my body. I get this energy that feels like I could run everywhere instead of just walking. It's good. Makes me feel powerful. 

 

 

 

 

[Lou186000]

alrighty, then. Day 5 completed. It was all abs & core today, and I knew it was going to be hard. Halfway into the first set of the first exercise I thought "I'm in trouble this time." But I managed my way through. On a good day I can maybe do a full minute plank, but after 3 sets of core work, there was only 20 seconds of plank in me. Still, I feel good that I got through the thing, though I wasn't all that graceful. I'm looking forward to doing this one again, as improvements here will be easy for me to see and feel.

 

 

[WonderNatarella]

Hi Lou! 

 

How are you? 

 

I just checked DArebee's site and what a brilliant ressource! Has your weight moved ?

[Lou186000]

Hi Lou! 

 

How are you? 

 

I just checked DArebee's site and what a brilliant ressource! Has your weight moved ?

 

WN, thanks for checking in!

 

I weighed in on Friday and gained a pound, but that's okay. The 4.6 pounds down was a lot all at once, I expected to gain at least a bit of that back.

 

Glad you liked Darebee's site! I learned about it from one of the other NF rebels and I've really appreciated how nicely Darebee's workouts fit with NF in general.

 

My report for today:

 

I ended up taking two days off from the workout. Friday's day off was unintentional, it ended up being a crazy busy day and just missed the opportunity. Saturday, after family responsibilities were taken care of I got down to work on the music project, which is also part of my challenge goals. As I expected, I ended up getting completely engrossed in the project and stayed up until well past midnight, which is unusual for this middle-aged nerd. Then I'm pretty sure I dreamed about the project, and woke up, got some coffee and got back into it again for the next three or four hours. It was good. I feel like I did some good work, hopefully the director will be happy with my composition choices.

 

With all that, I did manage to get an evening workout in today, so it's Day 6 of the workout program. It went well --- my first set of push-ups was 16, and then sets 2 and 3 way less: 

 

push-ups (to failure)

• set 1: 16 (6 more than last time) (rest 15 seconds)
• set 2: 3 (rest 4 seconds)
• set 3: 2 (face plant)

But it feels good to have it done, and I'll get to Day 7 on the morrow.

[Lou186000]

Finished Day 7 of 30 Days of Gravity, and I managed to get some morning cardio in as well.

 

Today was all legs focus, and it was pretty hard (I did Level 2, 100 reps per exercise). Pretty sure I'll have some DOMS to show for it tomorrow, but I'm good with that. 

 

This exercise program is the first time I've ever tried to exercise "to failure." I wonder if I'm pushing myself enough on the "to failure" part of things. I'm proud of myself for working the program, and I bet I can push a bit harder still. 

 

Off to wind down and then to bed!

 

 

[Lou186000]

Day 8 of 30 Days of Gravity.

 

Not a long one today, but challenging. Definitely having some leg DOMS from yesterday's session. Tomorrow is abs & core. I know it's going to be a tough one, but looking forward to it just the same.

[Lou186000]

Day 9 of 30 Days of Gravity

 

Holy cow this was a tough one. All abs & core. I got through it, though, and glad I did.

 

As I perused the forums at darebee.com I see that these exercises are separated into Part 1 and Part 2 and can be divided into morning and evening. If I do that I may have a better result for the Part 2 exercises which tend to be the "to failure" ones. Day 11 is the next day with a Part 2, so I might well try that method then.

[Toshimi]

after seeing what you've been writing on the Darebee gravity, I think I might give it a try next challenge. I've been looking at the site for awhile, just never actually done it. 

 

Hopefully splitting the workouts help!

[Lou186000]

after seeing what you've been writing on the Darebee gravity, I think I might give it a try next challenge. I've been looking at the site for awhile, just never actually done it. 

 

Hopefully splitting the workouts help!

 

Yeah, they're really good so far. I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow. YOU turned me on to the site to begin with, though maybe you don't recall, so I owe you! I even have that quote on my wall now, "I already know what giving up feels like; I want to see what happens if I dont."

[Lou186000]

Day 10, 30 days of Gravity

 

Wow, SERIOUS arm work today. If I'd been doing these exercises for the past 14 months my biceps would be the size of my thighs. Maybe not, but very challenging stuff for me. 

 

Anyway, workout accomplished for today, and I even got some music in (part of my challenge goals)!

 

My goal for tomorrow is to do Part 1 of Day 11 in the morning, then Part 2 in the evening. Doing strength before work is a bit of a challenge so I may not make it --- we'll have to see how it goes.

[Lou186000]

Alrighty --- morning strength training done as part of Day 11 of 30 Days of Gravity!

 

Went pretty smoothly. I'd never done shoulder taps before, it felt good to try something new and be able to do it.

 

Part 2 is saved for this afternoon, where I'll see how many push-ups I can do.

[Lou186000]

Part 2 of Day 11 of 30 Days of Gravity

 

Definitely an improvement over previous push-up sessions. 

 

Today's

- set 1 = 21 push-ups (pretty sure this is a personal best for me)

rest 27 seconds

- set 2 = 3 push-ups

rest 3 seconds

- set 3 = 2 push-ups

rest until tomorrow

 

The previous days I did Push-ups to failure were Days 2 and 6. Day 2 my sets were 10, 3, and 2 and on Day 6 my sets were 16, 3, and 2. (The second and third sets seem pretty standard.) Those days I did Part 2 directly after Part 1.Today there were almost exactly 12 hours between Part 1 and Part 2.

[Lou186000]

Spent the entire weekend working on the music project, left no mental or physical time for workouts. I'm not sure how balanced it was, but it was good. It's a strange thing for me to have a deadline for a composition, but it's still rather cool. I've found so far that music work doesn't get done during the week. There's too much going on: parenting, family-ing, exercising. I need more mental space than an average weekday allows for that sort of creation. At least so far that's true. So the last couple of weekends have been about that project. I have two pieces left to deliver, hopefully I'll knock them out next weekend.

 

As for the start of the work-week (yes, I have to work today), got an excellent morning cardio session in just now, will do strength this eve.

[Lou186000]

Been a couple of days since I posted, but today was an excellent day of exercise. Managed to rise early enough to do some good cardio and just finished Day 14 of 30 Days of Gravity. Off to bed, hoping to rise on time again in the morning.