Having defeated the Den of Evil, Jarric heads on to the Sisters' Burial Grounds

[Jarric]

Hi all, so I'm staying in rebels for now and trying to build on my first challenge (here)

My Quest

To be fitter, healthier and to look better naked.

Challenges

New Gym Program (10XP) - After a good few weeks in the gym, I'm meeting a trainer tonight to put together a new training plan. Will post the new workout when I have it if anyone's interested. Challenge is to run the new program at least twice per week (bonus 5XP for 3 times a week every week).

Body Balance (10XP) - So I did a little home yoga stuff last month, and now I've booked myself and my partner in to "Body Balance" (apparently a mix of yoga and tai chi?) on Mondays. Challenge is just to go to this every week, but I may throw in some stuff at home as I get used to it.

Swim More, Swim Better (10XP) - Swim at least 3 mornings per week before work, with at least one "drill day" (bonus 5XP for 5 times a week on at least two weeks). Will post my drill routine on here once I have it worked out. Went for a swim this morning so already started on this (if you hadn't noticed today will be a busy day!).

Sleep (10XP) - No tea after 4pm daily (again, I know this was in my challenge last month), plus in bed by 11pm on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursday. I'm also (hopefully) getting a Fitbit Charge for my birthday on Thursday, so I should be able to track my sleep better.

Parle plus en français (15XP) - Same as last month, but I've upped my Duolingo goal from 20XP (2 challenges) to 50XP (the highest setting; 4-5 challenges). Complete daily French goal on Duolingo every day for the duration of the challenge.

Once again will keep you posted. Also, guess the computer game reference in the title for your chance to win a totally imaginary prize!

[Chris-Tien Jinn]

I'll be curious about the Body Balance class and what you think of it.  

 

Good luck with the new challenge!!!!

[Jarric]

I'll be curious about the Body Balance class and what you think of it.  

 

Good luck with the new challenge!!!!

 

Cheers. It was a bit nerve-racking going in there, particularly as out of about 30 people I was the only man! Reasonably hard work though and I quite enjoyed it. Thankfully I'd booked the first three sessions before I got to the first one, so no excuse to back out this month!

[Jarric]

So, went to see a trainer at the gym yesterday and he was pretty happy with the routine I have, but showed me some other exercises I can add in. I'm thinking of alternating between my current workout and a revised version. I've put the list below, any advice would always help!

 

Current workout (with current weight, sets and reps):

Inverted Row - body - 4x10

Lunges - 44lbs - 4x12 (2 sets forward, 2 sets back, alternate legs)

Chest Press Machine - 55lbs - 3x15

Barbell row, twist, shoulder press - 33lbs - 4x8

Bastards - body - 2x13

 

Possible alternate workout:

Cable Lat Pulldown - ?? - 4x8

Lunges - 44lbs - 4x12

Standing cable chest press - ?? - 4x8

Triceps pushdown - ?? - 4x8

Bicep Curls - 18lbs - 3x8

Tricep extensions - 13lbs - 3x8

Bastards - body - 2x13

 

 

Also, did my swimming drills today (and only nearly drowned about a dozen times!). As promised, this was the routine:

 

**200m Breaststroke warm-up**

 

**Breaststroke Drills (100m each)**

 

Two-Kick / One-Pull Drill

 

Two-Pull / One-Kick Drill

 

Breaststroke Pull / Dolphin Kick

 

 

**Freestyle Drills (100m each)**

 

Fist Swimming

 

Side kicking

 

Fingertip Drag

 

Single Arm (R, L) Drill

 

 

**200m Backstroke**

 

Also planning on adding some butterfly to this, but ran out of time today.

[Jarric]

So I probably should have put an exception in my challenges for this week... It's my birthday tomorrow, so no swimming, and having missed swimming yesterday and leaving early for meetings tomorrow I'm going to be stuck at twice this week. I also strongly suspect that I will get to bed a lot later than planned tomorrow.

 

Still, will do my second gym session at the weekend, and will make time for Duolingo, so my other goals are looking ok.

[fleaball]

Happy belated birthday! You're the second Rebel I've seen with a Duolingo goal and now I feel like I need to get back at it as well. How'd the rest of the week go for you?

[Jarric]

Happy belated birthday! You're the second Rebel I've seen with a Duolingo goal and now I feel like I need to get back at it as well. How'd the rest of the week go for you?

 

Cheers mate.

 

Health wise didn't go too well. Pizza and beer on my birthday Thursday, a few business drinks on Friday followed by a night out with friends getting totally leathered, and then Saturday caught up with some old friends and got totally slaughtered again! So rubbish goal wise but all good fun.

 

So goal wise I'm here with it:

New Gym Program - Managed this. Went Monday for the new program, and then Saturday for my twice per week. Should get back to three times per week from this week.

Body Balance - Yep, only going once a week on Mondays, so the birthday didn't affect this.

Swim More, Swim Better - First week failed. Only made it in Monday (normal swim) and Tuesday (drills). Went this morning so will do better this week.

 

Sleep - Failed this on my actual birthday, gonna let myself off for that one. Got my Fitbit so will be interesting to see the sleep tracking now!

Parle plus en français - Failed this as well. I've already missed 3 days this month, so will have to make sure I don't drop any more.

[Jarric]

Having to re-work the body balance challenge slightly. Yesterday I waited for Mrs Jarric to turn up to class, and by the time she got there it was too late to go.

 

I went home and did a 40 min youtube video instead, so I'm still counting it. Just found out I have a snooker match next Monday, so will be a video instead for that one too.

 

made the gym and swimming yesterday though, and swimming again today

[Chris-Tien Jinn]

Great job adapting!!!  I have the worst time getting to exercise classes, eventhough I love them; so I usually have a backup plan.  

[Jarric]

Cheers Chris-Tien! Life just gets in the way sometimes, doesn't it?

 

So missed my sleep goal last night being thoroughly disorganised, got to bed about 11:40. Then failed to get up for swimming this morning (these two things may be related!).

 

Did do my French yesterday though, so back on track with that one.

[Talos]

So missed my sleep goal last night being thoroughly disorganised, got to bed about 11:40. Then failed to get up for swimming this morning (these two things may be related!).

 

Did do my French yesterday though, so back on track with that one.

 

Sounds familiar. It always seems like missing one thing (especially sleep!) can start an avalanche of disorganization. 

 

Kudos with keeping up on the French! That's a language I would love to learn . . . someday . . .

[Jarric]

Sounds familiar. It always seems like missing one thing (especially sleep!) can start an avalanche of disorganization.

Kudos with keeping up on the French! That's a language I would love to learn . . . someday . . .

Yeah, definitely. Missed swimming again today (though last night was pub night) so will have to get my last one in tomorrow.

I really enjoy learning languages. So why some day? Why not today?

[Jarric]

So I have officially failed the swimming challenge for a second week and only gone twice. Why is it so hard to get up in the mornings? Anyone have any ideas to help with that?

 

Otherwise all going well. Had a great gym session yesterday (although i seem to have twanged a tendon in my finger), and other goals all up to date apart from what I missed earlier in the month.

[Chris-Tien Jinn]

So I have officially failed the swimming challenge for a second week and only gone twice. Why is it so hard to get up in the mornings? Anyone have any ideas to help with that?

 

Otherwise all going well. Had a great gym session yesterday (although i seem to have twanged a tendon in my finger), and other goals all up to date apart from what I missed earlier in the month.

 

Put a really obnoxious alarm out of reach so that you HAVE to get out of bed in the morning??  Get a cat.  Have a BIG glass of water before going to bed at night.  Create a reward system for something you really, really want and tie it to getting up.  

 

I'm not a morning person, but I live with one.  He makes me coffee.

 

[KimBrulee]

Another angle: 

Is it imperative that the swim happen in the morning every time?

 

I love all the ideas that @Chris-Tien provides, and  I get the benefit of working out early. (I've heard people say that you get it 'out of the way', or that you rev your metabolism, etc)

 

I also think that bodies have preferences.  (Example: When I ran/played sports in my youth,  I got my best workouts when I was fully awake and moving.  Also: I have always done better when I skip breakfast, although everyone says not to do it)  So I guess I'm saying that there may be a time of day when swimming would be easier to face or even a pleasure.

[Jarric]

Put a really obnoxious alarm out of reach so that you HAVE to get out of bed in the morning??  Get a cat.  Have a BIG glass of water before going to bed at night.  Create a reward system for something you really, really want and tie it to getting up.  

 

I'm not a morning person, but I live with one.  He makes me coffee.

 

I think a reward system's a good idea; will have to see what I can come up with. Not sure what yet, but will definitely have a think.

 

Also, you've reminded me of something, story time:

I used to have my alarm on my stereo over the other side of the room. It would blare out Machine Head or System of a Down or something at top volume, loud enough to wake up the whole house if I didn't get up and turn it off. But the stereo used to spin the CD trays for a couple of seconds before playing music which, combined with the fear of the extremely loud noise, was enough to get me out of bed and turn it down before I upset anyone.

 

One day, after a particularly heavy night out, the CD trays were not enough.

 

I woke up on the floor underneath the stereo, my right foot screaming at me for urgent attention. Looking down my foot was covered in blood, and on closer inspection a large chunk of my big toe was hanging limply off.

 

Still only half awake, confused, and with a pounding hangover, I crawled out into the hallway and towards the bathroom. Lying on the bathroom floor, door open beside me, I tried my best to stem the blood flow and push my toe back together with toilet paper.

 

The commotion had also awoken my mother, who came to investigate. As she arrived a new thought occurred to me, lying confused and bleeding on the bathroom floor. I had slept, and in fact still was, completely naked.

 

Piecing the morning back together afterwards, I realised that when the music started I must have leapt out of bed, kicking an empty glass off my bedside table in the process. I then proceeded to run across the broken glass to my stereo and turn it off, all prior to waking up.

 

 

Another angle: 

Is it imperative that the swim happen in the morning every time?

 

I love all the ideas that @Chris-Tien provides, and  I get the benefit of working out early. (I've heard people say that you get it 'out of the way', or that you rev your metabolism, etc)

 

I also think that bodies have preferences.  (Example: When I ran/played sports in my youth,  I got my best workouts when I was fully awake and moving.  Also: I have always done better when I skip breakfast, although everyone says not to do it)  So I guess I'm saying that there may be a time of day when swimming would be easier to face or even a pleasure.

 

I probably would be more productive at swimming if I went later in the day, I'm definitely not a morning person! I really do enjoy swimming in the morning though and it makes me feel better for the rest of the day. Once I'm actually out of bed I have no problem going to the pool, it's just the getting out of bed that's an issue.

 

The other problem is that I'm going to the gym 3 times each week, playing badminton twice and snooker at least once, so I don't actually have a day after work where I'm not already doing something.

[Jarric]

End of week 2 and mid week 3 round-up (sorry I've been AWOL for a few days).

 

Been down a bit of a rabbit hole of lethargy/depression and bad sleeping habits over the last couple of days, so things aren't going great, but hopefully I'm coming back out of that now. That's also part of the reason I haven't been able to bring myself to come on here for a while.

 

New Gym Program - This is still going really well, and I'm amazed that I enjoy going to the gym as much as I do. I actually look forward to it, which isn't something I ever thought I'd say! 3 times last week, once so far this week, with the second tonight and a third at the weekend.

Body Balance - As mentioned above I ended up doing home yoga instead for week two, and didn't have time to do it this Monday. Will find time for an extra home yoga session at some point during the challenge to get me up to the full 4. Probably this weekend.

Swim More, Swim Better - Only went twice last week, and have only been once so far this week. Working on a way to get out of bed tomorrow so i can at least come back up to twice a week.

 

Sleep - Failed another day on Monday, a combination of late snooker, beer and apathy. Still, getting there I think.

Parle plus en français - Finally getting some traction on this now - 11 day streak!

[Jarric]

Also also also, now I have my Fitbit I can put up some activity data. Last week's exercise here:

 

 

I did the three walks, but not sure if they really count. They are (in order) from the pub, to the pub, to the shop for milk.

[Jarric]

Not a bad weekend, got my Duolingo done and made it to the gym yesterday. Also, got a new alarm app and woke up on time today (let's hope it lasts!).

 

Body balance tonight all being well, still need to find a home session somewhen to make up for the one I missed earlier in the month. Maybe over the bank holiday weekend.

 

Last week's exercises here:

 

As a side note, what on earth has happened to this website? It's so much harder to navigate now it's been updated. Also, have they done away with progress bars now, because my signature currently looks rubbish!

[Chris-Tien Jinn]

Nice exercise results ... from FitBit's website??

 

The forum change caught us all by surprise.  The site's been flaky as well; so it is hard to know what features are gone for good and what we will eventually get as the fearless leaders tinker with the program.  

[Jarric]

1 hour ago, Chris-Tien Jinn said:

Nice exercise results ... from FitBit's website??

 

The forum change caught us all by surprise.  The site's been flaky as well; so it is hard to know what features are gone for good and what we will eventually get as the fearless leaders tinker with the program.  

 

Thank you! Yeah, it's from the Fitbit website. Can't export the data (might be able to if you pay the Pro subscription?) so I just took a screenshot

[Jarric]

Body Balance last night completed. Opted against going to the gym first as I'm finding the yoga a bit harder than I anticipated.

 

Failed my sleep goal last night, but still got to bed around 11:30. More importantly I did get up to go swimming, so that's two days in a row :).

[Chris-Tien Jinn]

Congrats on getting up to swim!!!  

[Jarric]

11 hours ago, Chris-Tien Jinn said:

Congrats on getting up to swim!!!  

 

Thanks Chris! Got up and swam again today, so I've finally completed a week of that challenge. Shame it's the last week; think I'll be putting the same in the next challenge.

[Chris-Tien Jinn]

I'll be carrying a lot of things over to the next challenge .... in some cases with a bit more intensity or challenge to them.