Starting a new thing

[Matariel]

Hey Everyone! 

 

So after some heavy encouragement at #CampNF 2016 I'm reaching out and trying out forum life. I created an account way back when I first started following NerdFitness but never actually did anything with it. Now I'm going to try and learn to forum! So diving right in:

 

Quest 1: Learn to forum. For real big part of this quest will be to learn the forum find my camp nerds and try to follow people and be all around more encouraging, coachable, and connected. Luckily I had a lot nerds talking about how awesome this is so I'm excited. Creating a quantifiable goal here is kinda difficult. I guess if I just maintain keeping track of this challenge it'll be my win. 

Quest 2: Starting Strength weeks 1-4 of 12. After camp I feel more confident than ever in building up my weightlifting strength with correct form and just getting strong in general. The bigger picture goal is to do SS for 12 weeks then move to my assassin-y bodyweight/gymnastics workouts for my upper body and continuing weightlifting for the legs. 4 weeks = 12 workouts. I'm doing well at building my habit of waking up and going so I think this should be relatively easy to maintain.

 

Quest 3: As I said I'm doing well at waking up and going so since SS is only 3 days a week I'm trying to commit to getting up and at least spending 30 minutes in the gym (make sure I get my Vitality points for my work insurance program) on the other 2 weekdays. Warm-up and mobility/flexibility work are the plan on these days.

 

Quest 4: Get back into Martial Arts. I found a school near me that teaches Judo and Brazilian Jiujitsu. The first week is a trial week then I have to decide to commit or not. I have a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, and some training in Krav Maga but I've decided I really want to improve my grappling/throwing game. If I do both Judo and Jiujitsu depends a lot on taking care of myself and my time. The goal here is to start training start learning again. If I stick with the school then 4+ classes will complete this quest.

 

Quest 5: Reduce eating out for lunch. Right now I've fallen back into the habit of eating out every day for lunch. This is a stupid expensive habit when I don't pay attention and try to eat cheap. I don't want to go crazy with it yet. The goal is to reduce eating out for lunch from 5 days a week to 3.

 

This looks like too much but when I check my brain its really adding 3 things to my schedule. Onward to new habits!

[Amdhiel]

Yay [emoji119] so glad you decided to start actively using the forums!!!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[miss_marissa]

[Raxie]

YAY YOURE HERE TOO! It's a freaking party.

sent from the depths of the Ionian Nebula

[Big_Show]

YAAAAS you drank the koolaid!

[spezzy]

[Haikoo]

HI!!!! So glad to see you here

 

 

(I feel like Koo laid should be a koo pun but I am not the one who got him here lol)

 

[brandyb1027]

Hi!

[Brunehild]

YAY you're here! Now I feel motivated to forum, too.

[Raxie]

So how did your week 1 go? *eyebrow waggle*

[Matariel]

Hello all you wonderful people! I can already tell I'm going to need to up my .gif game... 

 

So Quest 1: 

1 minute ago, Raxie said:

So how did your week 1 go? *eyebrow waggle*

I'm literally updating it now. I'm still trying to figure out all this forum business. I found some people followed some things. Made a post. Just learned how quoting works.

 

Also just learned how to get a .gif in here... things are progressing. I'm not getting email updates like I requested for some of the threads I followed. I checked my spam folder too. Either people have been super inactive or I'm not getting emails. Both are solid options. Haven't wandered much from finding current threads of the people who followed me here so I'm still not really exploring yet. Still learning how to do my thing. Need to figure out the app so I can dump workout logs here as they happen.

 

Quest 2: 

Monday 9/26:

Front Squat: 45x5x3  Quality: good felt solid through abs and back. No knee pain. 

Overhead Press: 65x5x3 Quality: Good realized I was throwing my shoulders forward to rack but not rolling them back to press up and it was causing shoulder issues in the warmup. Fixed that and they felt stronger than ever.

Deadlift: 135x5x1 Quality: Good focusing on not letting the back round and the bar moving first

 

Wednesday 9/28:

Front Squat: 55x5x3  Quality: good felt solid through abs and back. No knee pain. 

Bench Press: 135x5x3 Quality: Felt bad. Shaky arms. Felt nothing like what I felt benching at camp.

Deadlift: 155x5x1 Quality: Good 

 

Friday 9/30: **disclaimer I workout first thing in the morning and only had 4 hours of sleep before this workout**

Front Squat: 65x5x3  Quality: Couldn't keep solid through trunk. Felt knee pains on some reps. 

Overhead Press: 70x5x3 Quality: Felt heavy and had troubles not rolling the shoulder around

Deadlift: 175x5x1 Quality: with great determination i kept everything solid but it was extra exhausting.

 

Monday 10/3: *weigh in at 205 today*

Front Squat: 75x5x3  Quality: Knee pain very much related to my ability to keep my trunk solid. I'm h 

Bench Press: 140x5x3 Quality: Still felt heavy. Had some issues in warmup of shoulder pain one set then elbow pain the next, not sure what I did but it got fixed by the time I did my work sets. Focused on pushing the bar away faster and the lift felt much better. Maybe I've been going too slow.

Deadlift: 205x5x1 Quality: Felt awesome. Great end to my workout

 

Quest 3:

Tuesday 9/27:

Wandered the gym. Did hip and shoulder stretches I remembered from Kate G's classes at camp.

Girlfriend and I officially canceled our ballroom dance lessons. We've been going for 5 months and learned a LOT but our instructor moved last month and it hasn't been the same. Plus it was an expensive hobby. Since I didn't need the money for lessons anymore I moved some money around and decided to invest in GMB's programs.

 

Thursday 9/29: 

Shoulder and hip stretches from Kate's classes again. Still learning GMB's program layout for flexibility. 

 

Quest 4:

Went to a school I found in my area that teaches Judo, Muay Thai Boxing, and Brazilian JiuJitsu. I tried out their Judo and BJJ classes. I'm not looking for more striking right now because my background has been so strong in it. 

The school is really small which I like, it's also accredited with USA Judo which is awesome, and the instructor is a real laid back cool guy who also apparently cosplayed for all of Dragon*Con so I think we'll get along fine. 

Judo is different from everything I've done before because it's all leverage and all throwing. Especially at early levels there isn't much resistance because you're trying to nail the technique so you don't injure yourself trying to force something. It was really fun and not very taxing. Good enough to be an active recovery day activity.

BJJ I've done classes in before so I knew what to expect. Warmups and then drills. We did arm-bars from 4 different positions in the class I did. It was fun but it was more tiring than what I was looking for. 

Moral of the story I think I found a new thing in Judo and I'm going to officially sign up today.

 

Quest 5: 

Met minimum requirement of 2 lunches last week!!! By complete accident rather than design but I'll take it!!

 

 

...

Really need to work on the app so I don't feel bad for dumping super posts on you guys all the time.

[Big_Show]

Glad you've found what you were looking for in the Judo mate!

[miss_marissa]

SOLID Week 1.

*bumps*

[goodbye_farewell]

Ooooh, who is the n00b?

[Amdhiel]

Yay!! Sounds like you had a solid first week [emoji119]!! Glad to hear that you found a new martial arts thing to try top and don't worry too much about super posts ;-).

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[Matariel]

@spezzy 225 for 5 today. I'll just be over here passed out dead for the rest of the day.

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[Matariel]

Also downloaded Tapatalk. Still figuring out how to operate it and filter it down to what I want to see. But still progression.

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[Haikoo]

2 hours ago, WJN325 said:

Also downloaded Tapatalk. Still figuring out how to operate it and filter it down to what I want to see. But still progression.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

 

LOL Meanwhile she's all "an easy 225 for 5 today........." <3 So much awesomepants.

[Matariel]

On 10/3/2016 at 10:34 AM, Big_Show said:

Glad you've found what you were looking for in the Judo mate!

On 10/4/2016 at 11:55 PM, Amdhiel said:

Yay!! Sounds like you had a solid first week !! Glad to hear that you found a new martial arts thing to try top and don't worry too much about super posts ;-).

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks guys! Judo is real fun Class 4 tonight  

 

On 10/5/2016 at 10:28 AM, Haikoo said:

 

LOL Meanwhile she's all "an easy 225 for 5 today........." <3 So much awesomepants.

Haha I think her quote was "anytime 225 feels heavy I swallow my pride and go home" haha! One day further in the future I'll be there. With the right eating and resting habits and diligence. 

[Haikoo]

You will totally be there   It's just always a bit awe inspiring to look at those who are much farther along the journey than ourselves! 

[Matariel]

Quest 1: 

Tapatalk gives a lot of notifications. I need to figure out how to filter down so I'm not getting 6 notifications an hour from the nerd pages

 

Quest 2:

 

My knee was all sorts of upset about squats today. I think I'm keying in on what is the making a difference though. I'm noticing my glutes aren't as active in the reps with greater knee pain, and if I can get my glutes and my torso "canister" all firing correctly I don't have knee pain that rep. I'm also wondering if sometimes I'm getting the pain signal as a warning and not actually an issue.

I tried videoing  https://goo.gl/photos/eMohEUUH8JPNr9k38, https://goo.gl/photos/5jxLCzrAuuSpGSSw7, https://goo.gl/photos/wroRMnbdM9Tvqudf7 but since I was also using my phone for tracking and rest times It got really annoying taking it out and putting it in the tripod so I think I'll wait until my Pixel comes in before I start videoing everything. Also I know my left side is my problem side and I filmed from the right. Doh!

 

Bench was SO MUCH BETTER today. I focused on making sure my shoulders were mobile and not pinned in place. If I can get that feeling squared away the next step is making sure my chest is the driver not my triceps.

All of my videos were too close to really see anything. Other than my arms shaking much more than what they felt like they were doing when I was under the bar.

 

Added Power Cleans today! The app said I was supposed to warm up with 4 sets of 3 at 95 so in the interest of time I just skipped that. I also just focused on getting the lift to feel right since it was the first time so no videos.

 

Quest 4:

Judo continues to be a fun learning experience. Yesterday we did a standing practice where we did everything except complete the throw. Then we worked combinations where we go for one throw, get blocked for it, and immediately followup with another throw. It was fun. I really enjoy this class.

 

Fun fact! My studio (dojo?... class?... I'll have to clarify the name with my instructor) has a family that trains there. The dad is a 9th degree black belt in Judo and is an official coach for the Olympic games. His wife and his 2 boys train with us. I figure if someone with that level of knowledge and reputation lets his kids learn there, I might have found a good school.

[Matariel]

End of week 2 Check-in

 

Quest 1: Learn to forum.

So as far as my own personal foruming world I think I have a better handle. Now I'm creeping on other people's posts (people I met at CNF really) and getting notifications (so many notifications). I need to start reaching out and checking other conversations and actually say hi to people. Also need to start responding to people. This isn't a diary is it? It's supposed to be a conversation right?

 

Quest 2: Starting Strength

I'm 2 for 2 on Friday workouts feeling rough. I know I overworked myself the first week but maybe I'm in general doing too much? I guess we'll find out this Friday. I also dropped my progression jumps from 20 lbs on deadlift down to 10 now that I'm in what I called "stupid weight" range up just 3 weeks ago. Now the stupid weight range is 315+ but we'll see what happens going forward.

 

Quest 3: Mobility

GMB's Focused Flexibility program is information overload. I'm still working on piecing together all that is involved/included. While I'm figuring out all the extra stuff offered I've picked up some new stretches that I should do everyday but at least make sure I do Tuesday Thursday. 

 

Quest 4: Judo.

2 days a week 1 hour a day of throwing people. It's great. It's also a really great way to see how tiny tiny changes can completely throw off momentum and balance in a human body. I'm even starting to remember people's names! Next step remember move names!

 

Quest 5: Food

Last week was a learning experience. Work offered me free lunch one day but other than that I ate out a lot. My wallet frowned disapprovingly at me. 

[goodbye_farewell]

21 hours ago, WJN325 said:

End of week 2 Check-in

 

Quest 1: Learn to forum.

So as far as my own personal foruming world I think I have a better handle. Now I'm creeping on other people's posts (people I met at CNF really) and getting notifications (so many notifications). I need to start reaching out and checking other conversations and actually say hi to people. Also need to start responding to people. This isn't a diary is it? It's supposed to be a conversation right?

 

I comment on others' here and there, but I tend to hang out in my Battle Log mostly. But yes, being active usually yields a better forum experience

[Matariel]

3 hours ago, wovercast said:

I comment on others' here and there, but I tend to hang out in my Battle Log mostly.

Good to know I'm not being viewed as anti-social or at least abnormal.

 

Quest 5:

Already crushed for week 3. Had lunch from home Monday and Tuesday! #Winning

Helps when you made Kalua Pork for a dinner party Saturday. Fed 9 people and still had leftovers for 2 days

[goodbye_farewell]

1 hour ago, WJN325 said:

Good to know I'm not being viewed as anti-social or at least abnormal.

Its more likely that we are both anti-social and abnormal