Shalya Gets Back to Basics [Jan 2016]

[Shaylavan]

Oh hey, it's been exactly 1 year since I tried a challenge (and failed to complete that challenge). But, four weeks seems far more manageable, and fits beautifully into my schedule, so let's give this another go.

2015 was a hectic year - I started grad school, which has been amazing. This meant I had to leave my Muay Thai gym I was training at due to both money and time reasons (I'm still in the same city, but my school schedule conflicted with the classes there). Fortunately I found people in my grad program who used to train BJJ and Muay Thai, and so was able to get in a few workout sessions with them last semester. I also now have access to the school gym for weightlifting. Neither better nor worse then, just different.

However, January is a term break so my training group isn't around, and there's no classes so I'm not going to campus very often. I risk spending this break just eating leftover Christmas cookies and watching Netflix; trying to use this challenge to do a little bit more than just that!

Overarching Goal: Use January to build basic habits to carry me through the rest of the year, and keep in decent enough shape to train with my ad hoc martial arts group in the spring semester.

GOALS

1. Daily Stretching. Do each of these three stretches for at least five breaths, at least once per day:

• Hamstring stretch (forward fold)
• Hip flexor stretch (kneeling hip flexor stretch)
• Calf stretch (lunge against wall)

This is one I'd like to build on in future challenges, and by the end of the year be stretching more of me, 3x/day. But, starting small and manageable.

Total possible: 26

Grading will be a straight percentage of days achieved it.

2. Bodyweight Exercises. 3x/week on M/W/F. Choosing those specific days since those are the days I'll be able to work out next semester, so I want to get into the habit of exercising those days now to make it easier to keep going once classes start again. Just doing bodyweight squats, knee pushups, and planks to keep it simple and something I can do at home if I don't go to the campus gym.

• Squats: ladder sets from 15 down to 5 (15 reps, 14 reps, 13 reps, etc - aiming to increase starting reps by 1 each week so by end of challenge doing 19-18-17 down to 9)
• Knee Pushups: ladder sets from 10 down to 1 (goal by end is to be doing full pushups for 5 reps through 1 rep)
• Planks: ladder sets from 60 seconds to 10 seconds

Total possible: 12

Grading: 80% will be number of workouts accomplished, period. 20% will be how many were on the correct days of the week (i.e. if I do 10 workouts, but only 8 were on MWF as planned, I'll give myself an 8/10 in that section of the grade). Upping squat reps and knee pushups to real pushups is a nice to have, but that's more to keep the exercises interesting and won't count for grading.

3. Food Logging. Just collecting data and trying to be more mindful of what I'm eating to start the year. I'm not planning on making major diet changes right now, but want to get a baseline of what I'm eating now.

Total possible: 26

Grading is a straight percentage of days achieved it.

4. Life Goal - Complete EdX Mandarin Course. I'm going to China over spring break (!!) The only New Year's resolution I made for myself was a) visit 3 countries this year, and have a conversation in the local language everywhere I go (can be very brief and very basic, but should be an actual exchange with a native speaker). So to that end, I want to finish all six lessons of this course (https://courses.edx.org/courses/course-v1:MandarinX+MX101x+3T2015/info) in this challenge to get the basics down.

Total possible: 6 lessons

Grading is a straight percentage of how many lessons I complete within the challenge.

Let's see how this goes!

[Lou_be_Lou]

Looking good!

Yay for using January to set yourself up for the rest of the year.

[Kishi]

I thought I remembered you from a while back. Welcome! Good to see you again.

 

I feel  you on being in between schools and such like that. It's a hard place to be, but it looks like you have a good plan to tackle it. The trick being, then, that you have to actually do it. ;

 

But hey! New year, new challenge. No reason not to take the momentum of novelty to make things more awesome, right?

 

Get ready. Come Monday, we unleash the hell.

[Shaylavan]

Day 1:

Workout - just finished!

Stretching - also just finished!

Food logging - logged everything eaten so far today

 

Mandarin - actually started first lesson on Saturday, though have not taken the quiz yet.

 

Good start, self.

['BoutThatActionBoss]

Hey there! I am following you for the challenge because I loved China when I was there. 

 

Where are you going in the country? I wish I knew more Mandarin when I was there but it was still an amazing experience. Have you been before? 

 

Your goals look great. I would like to do a challenge of just bodyweight exercises this year. I was on the Reddit page for bodyweight fitness and they had some nice routines. 

 

Nice to meet you and good luck with everything! 

[Shaylavan]

Thank you!  The exact location not determined yet - basically it is for a project class, and there are several possible locations for the projects (most are centered in Beijing or Shanghai).  This month I'll be finding out what projects are available and choosing the one I'll be working on.  I'll update when I know exactly where I'm going!  And I've never been - where did you go when you were there?  I should have a little time to travel around - what are the can't-miss things to see and do?

['BoutThatActionBoss]

Thank you!  The exact location not determined yet - basically it is for a project class, and there are several possible locations for the projects (most are centered in Beijing or Shanghai).  This month I'll be finding out what projects are available and choosing the one I'll be working on.  I'll update when I know exactly where I'm going!  And I've never been - where did you go when you were there?  I should have a little time to travel around - what are the can't-miss things to see and do?

 

I worked in Beijing for three months during the summer of 2008, so it was during the Olympics, and it was one of the most incredible summers of my life. I loved Beijing, I feel like it is a bit more 'Chinese' than Shanghai, in that Shanghai is very international and seems more Western. That said, the air quality in Beijing is the worst I have ever seen and I have spent time in Mexico City and LA. Beijing is far worse and it isn't even close. 

 

That said, the people of China were great. It's different culturally (you won't be queuing up in stores, for instance), but if you're patient and open-minded and take the good with the bad, it's great. I even thought (and still think) about moving there for a year or two. 

 

I don't have many travel recommendations just because I was there working, so I wasn't able to get out and see a lot of the country. I did love Beijing, so see stuff like the hutongs, eat hot pot and try to get out of the touristy areas. Play the hacky sack game with locals, eat at local restaurants. I spent my week off in Hainan, an island in the South China Sea that had great surfing...except for the five days I was there, haha. 

 

It's an awesome place, enjoy it! 

[Shaylavan]

Thanks 'BoutThatActionBoss!

 

 

Update time:

Stretching: did yesterday and today, 3/3 so far.

Journalling, same

Workout, did today as scheduled, and even managed the 3-2-1 of the pushups ladder as regular pushups.  Woo!

[Kishi]

Aw yis. Descending ladders FTW. Just think - one day you'll get up to ascending-descending, and won't that be fun.

['BoutThatActionBoss]

w00p w00p! Nice job! I have never done ladder sets. So, with the squats, for instance, right now you are starting at 15. Do you then take a minute, then do 14, etc? And then next week you will start at 16, then take a minute, then do 15? I have heard the term before but never really understood it, so please pardon my ignorance. 

 

Nice building up to a full pushup! When you get to a certain number on the wall ones will you transfer to a full one? 

 

Keep it going!

[Shaylavan]

w00p w00p! Nice job! I have never done ladder sets. So, with the squats, for instance, right now you are starting at 15. Do you then take a minute, then do 14, etc? And then next week you will start at 16, then take a minute, then do 15? I have heard the term before but never really understood it, so please pardon my ignorance. 

 

Nice building up to a full pushup! When you get to a certain number on the wall ones will you transfer to a full one? 

 

Keep it going!

 

So ladders are generally exactly that, start at 15, then go down to 14 in the next set, then 13, etc down to 6.  Then next week trying to scale it up by starting at 16, then 15, etc down to 7 (chose to do a max of ten sets for time's sake).  For efficiency's sake I've started doing it in rounds so 15 squats, 10 knee pushups, 60 s plank, rest, then 14 squats, 9 k pushups, 50 s plank, so forth (my plank ladders are shorter).

 

On pushup progression I'm doing knee pushups atm, but have managed to work in full pushups at the tail ends of the sets (so I'll do 10-5 knee pushups, then 4-1 full pushups).  Which is faster progress than I expected - guess I'm just really rusty, but still have that strength in me somewhere :-)

 

 

 

Progress update, got all 3 workouts in this week, and 5 days of stretching and logging so far.  Woo!  On the Mandarin front, still in the first lesson, but rewatched the lessons on numbers and general pronunciation and made flashcards.  This weekend the plan for that is to rewatch the other two vocab lectures, do the worksheets, and take the quiz.  Good first week!

['BoutThatActionBoss]

Nice! That makes sense. I suppose I could have googled but your explanation is better than anything I could have found! I may start incorporating them into my training once in awhile. I like the rounds as well, it's one way to keep the hear moving. 

 

Nice job with the pushups! I tried to do the 100 pushup challenge a bunch of times but haven't yet been able to stick with it. You'll beat me to it! 

 

How's everything going lately?

[Shaylavan]

Posting frequency fell off, but despite this week being jam-packed w/interviews for summer internships (meep!) still more or less on track!

 

Stretching: Still hitting every day.  And I think I'm getting incrementally closer to touching my toes....:-D

 

Food logging: Yep, still logging every day (or, writing dinner the next morning...but it's completely accurate so counting it).

 

Workouts: Giving myself credit for this, although on Monday I was a little sick and on very little sleep (see prev source of stress this week), so I couldn't finish the workout.  But killed it today, upped the squats ladder to start at 16 AND got 5-4-3-2-1 as full pushups!  Although my form may not be the best there, so I'm going to work on getting perfect form on those sets before trying to do the whole ladder as full.

 

Mandarin...not on track with that >.<  But, interviews are tapering off so that may be a back half of January project.  Perusing the project list for that class today though, so let's see if that motivates me to at least flip through the flashcards.

 

 

 

@BoutThatActionBoss, I've tried 100 pushups challenge before, and the 200 squats challenge, but have such trouble sticking with the regular workout schedule.  If I ingrain that 3x/week workout habit with this challenge though, mb I'll take another crack at one of them :-)

[Kishi]

Real life comes first. That's the nature of the game for better or for worse. That said, it sounds like you're staying busy and firing on as many cylinders as you can. Which is great!

 

Keep going and keep us posted as you can.

['BoutThatActionBoss]

Posting frequency fell off, but despite this week being jam-packed w/interviews for summer internships (meep!) still more or less on track!

 

Stretching: Still hitting every day.  And I think I'm getting incrementally closer to touching my toes....:-D

 

Food logging: Yep, still logging every day (or, writing dinner the next morning...but it's completely accurate so counting it).

 

Workouts: Giving myself credit for this, although on Monday I was a little sick and on very little sleep (see prev source of stress this week), so I couldn't finish the workout.  But killed it today, upped the squats ladder to start at 16 AND got 5-4-3-2-1 as full pushups!  Although my form may not be the best there, so I'm going to work on getting perfect form on those sets before trying to do the whole ladder as full.

 

Mandarin...not on track with that >.<  But, interviews are tapering off so that may be a back half of January project.  Perusing the project list for that class today though, so let's see if that motivates me to at least flip through the flashcards.

 

 

 

@BoutThatActionBoss, I've tried 100 pushups challenge before, and the 200 squats challenge, but have such trouble sticking with the regular workout schedule.  If I ingrain that 3x/week workout habit with this challenge though, mb I'll take another crack at one of them :-)

 

No worries! Like Kishi said, real life is also pretty important but it's good to see that you are staying on track with everything as much as you can.

 

And nice job with the full pushups, that is pretty boss. More than I can do right now! 

 

Keep it up! 

 

Zai jian peng you! 

[Kishi]

So, I'm sure that the real world is taking up all your time right now. As it should - it's the real world. But if you get a chance, let us know how things are going and if there's anything we can do to help.

['BoutThatActionBoss]

Seconding Kishi here, check in when you can! It would be good to hear how you are doing with everything. 

[Shaylavan]

Thank you guys for checking in!  My progress fell off a little bit, but been mostly tracking.

 

Progress so far:

Stretching, I am at 18 of 23 possible so far (missed quite a few while traveling for interviews).  Not bad though, this is a better record than I have managed to maintain when trying to stretch daily so far.

 

Workouts:

Week 1: 3/3 on right days

Week 2: 2/3 (missed Friday b/c interview)

Week 3: 2/3 (missed Friday b/c no good reason)

Week 4: 1 so far, on Tuesday (and should get one more in on Thursday, since I've got all day commitments wed and fri that I don't believe I'll get workouts around...maybe Friday night though).

 

I've gotten the squats up to starting ladder from 17.

Still doing pushups full down from 5 to 1.

Today also added extra sets of planks at 40s and 20s to do a 10 set ladder rather than a 6 set ladder, and cuz I was feeling it.

 

Logging food: Yes!  Some of them were reconstructed after the fact, but still got all the food recorded every day.

 

Mandarin:

A hahaha that goal fell off a cliff.  I'll try to finish lesson 1 this weekend (slash, refresh myself on it), but o/w punting this goal to next challenge.

 

 

 

In other awesome life news, I've locked down my summer internship!  In my first choice industry!  So now I don't have to do any recruiting, applying, or interviewing all spring, leaving much more time for the important things like working out :-)

 

 

Overall actually pretty happy with how this challenge has gone down, since last time I tried I I fell off completely.  I like this 4 week cadence...easier to stick it out.

 

Will do a final wrap up update on Friday to tabulate final results.

['BoutThatActionBoss]

Nice job with the working out! Way to stay on track as best you can when life is throwing stuff at you! 

 

And great work with the tracking of your food. Not easy to do but can be invaluable when/if you want to tweak anything in your diet. 

 

Lastly, congrats on the internship! Now you can focus on knocking out your next challenge haha. 

 

Zai jian! 

[Kishi]

Nice! Looks like everything is going awesome for you over here. You've been climbing the ladders, and you got the internship!

 

Super cool. Glad that this shorter challenge suits you well.

[Shaylavan]

Final wrap up:

End of the day, I'm happy I stuck with it the whole challenge - definitely proud of myself for that.

How'd I actually stack up though?

 

GOALS
1. Daily Stretching: 21/26 = 80% = B-

Did better than the last time I tried a daily stretch goal though, so there's that.

2. Bodyweight Exercises. 9/12, 8/12 on the correct day.  So that's 73% by the weighting = C

Again though, a technically passing grade!  And I did up my pushup progression to 5-4-3-2-1 real pushups

3. Food Logging.26/26 = 100% = A+

That was easy because it required no willpower...and I discovered I have started eating sweets literally every day again.  Bummer.  But, that'll inform my next challenge's goal!

 

 

4. Life Goal - Complete EdX Mandarin Course. 0/6 = F

Oops.  Well, going to try to kickstart that this weekend and recycle this goal for Feb.

 

Thanks for reading!

[Kishi]

Woot! You weren't doing the push ups at the start, right? LEVEL UP

 

Of course, now we have to figure out that Mandarin part. Why didn't it fire? and what are you going to do differently to make it do what you need to do? (although, seeing as you have a challenge up already, maybe you already know...)