The Spider gets fierce (I aim to misbehave)

[The Spider]

So this is my third challenge, and last challenge (2 challenges ago, December) was such a flop that this challenge is going to be a super challenge.  I chose the quote specifically because much like when Captain Reynolds said the same line in Serenity, we had exactly no time for games.

 

For those of you who might be following me for the first time, last time I did a challenge I was in a car accident right after it started.  No severe injuries, but the acute PTSD that caused a LOT of driving anxiety didn't put me in the mood to go to the gym ever, and the irrational fear of hurting myself while working out at home was too great to do anything.  So I did have wins, but I was definitely set back on my workout and fitness goals.

 

But this time I'm set for savagery.  I just got over a nasty 3-day stomach flu that caused a lot of stomach muscle pain, but I have no abs to show for it.  I always get sick in February, and now that it's over, I've got nothing holding me back.

 

Goal 1: Gym 3 days a week

This was one of my goals last time, and the main one I failed at, like I said.  As of right now, my usual routine has been running to work my way up to running 5k.  I want to do a Spartan Race in September with my friends and the thing I need to work on the most is my long distance running and endurance.  I've always been decently flexible and good at climbing, etc, but the plain running has always been a problem for me.  Probably because it's boring.  But besides running I plan to do a routine of bench, squat/leg press, dead-lift, or bench, row, pull down, and always finish with trying to do chin ups since I used to be able to do multiple and now I can't do any.  Long term goal is to be able to run at least 5k with minimal breaks by September, but as of now my plan for each gym visit is:
Minimum 1 mile on elliptical

arms or legs depending on day

chin up attempts

optional: group fitness class with wife or swimming

If I make an excuse that I don't know what to do when I get to the gym or I'm bored of what I've been doing, I'll do a routine based on Spartan Race websites "wod" or the list of workouts for your first race that they posted.

0-4 failings = 3 str, 3 con, 5-7 failings = 2 str, 2 con, 8+ failings = 2 str, 1 con.

 

Goal 2: Minimize sugar intake

I've been making leaps and bounds in this part of my life.  From nearly gallons of soda a week to only a bottle a day, I'm now going to chisel it down to even less.  I can't even tell you how bad of an addiction soda is, if you've never had it.  I can have a water bottle in my hand and still buy a soda.  I can have a stomach ache, tooth aches, and a headache, and I'll know that soda will make it worse, and I'll still happily drink down the addicting garbage.  My primary goal is no more than a single 20oz bottle of soda a week and all random candies and chocolate coated things be portioned in serving sizes based on the package and are only to be consumed after having a proper meal.  Snacks haven't been as bad, but at my work there's a counter that's always covered in chocolates and potato chips and other useless food.

0-4 failings = 3 con, 5-7 failings = 2 con, 8+ failings = 1 con

 

Goal 3: Body weight workout one time weekly

This is where I'm going to get serious.  Based on my gym goals, I'll be whipped, but I'm going to push myself beyond my limits here and do a minimal equipment workout one time a week.  Even if it's just a mess of push ups and sit ups, or squats and prolonged stretching, or whatever, on a day that I don't go to the gym, I'm going to do something to get my body going.  The purpose of this is to keep the metabolism high and to keep the mindset there.  I can forget things on a dime; usually I go to the gym regularly for about 2 weeks before forgetting.  This is how I'm going to remind myself: by working out at home once a week to keep the workout on the front of my mind more often.  I have a kettle bell and small hand weights, and I think I'll go get some heavier hand weights and a smaller kettle bell for other exercises, too.

0-4 failings = 2str, 1 agi, 5-7 failings = 1 str, 1 agi = 8+ failings = 1 agi

[RoachRex]

Those sound like some great goals!

 

Do you bring your own snacks for work? That could help against whatever they've got on the table. 

[NeuroPunkNonsense]

Looks like a great challenge. Sorry to hear about your car accident but glad to hear you're recovering! Following.

[The Spider]

14 hours ago, RoachRex said:

Those sound like some great goals!

 

Do you bring your own snacks for work? That could help against whatever they've got on the table. 

 

Thanks!

 

I haven't been bringing snacks but that is another thing I plan on doing.  I'm going to get a lunch bag and bring frozen fruit and yogurt, and carrots with dips like hummus or guacamole.  I work in a grocery store, so getting healthy, affordable snacks shouldn't be that difficult, but when you deal with dim-witted and angry people all day, your diet choices go down fast lol.  One day I think I'll do some kind of study on the phenomenon of otherwise smart, polite people becoming less so when they enter a grocery store.

 

4 hours ago, Atrytone said:

Looks like a great challenge. Sorry to hear about your car accident but glad to hear you're recovering! Following.

 

Thank you.  Car accidents are for the birds.

[RoachRex]

if it's people over 40 it's probably because they're used to there being more better paid employees (i.e. more registers open and entry level employees paid enough to really care.) 

One of my favorites is snap peas they're not as hard of a crunch as carrots but they still crunch. 

[The Spider]

Going great so far -- did arms on Sunday as well as Monday, and hit 1 mile on the elliptical both days as well.  Feeling great.  Today I'm resting and tomorrow I'll do legs.

 

Yesterday I decided to get a Vitamin D supplement, since the winter has been pretty cloudy and I can't drink whole milk because it exacerbates my asthma.  The supplement seems to have kicked in already because I haven't had this much vitality in a while.  I'm hoping this + regular workouts helps so that I can get into the habit of waking up earlier.

 

I had a 12 oz can of soda yesterday at work, but the craving today was awful.  I'm glad I've learned how bad my soda addiction is so that I can prepare to help my kids avoid it.

 

My only concern right now is upping my protein and overall calorie intake.  I use a vegan protein (yellow pea/brown rice/cranberry blend) since soy and whey bothered my stomach so much last time I used them.  I'm going to switch back to Muscle Milk -- maybe just get some RTDs at work to see how I feel before investing in a big bucket?  Any suggestions?

[The Spider]

Third visit to the gym and it's only Wednesday. Gonna go again on Friday before work and maybe just do some swimming, depending on how I feel. No soda today and the craving was minimal, and, well, we won't talk about the amount of donuts I ate during work. They should be world famous... These donuts are so good.

[The Spider]

Week 1 grading:

 

• Gym 3x/week = 100/100 - didn't make it today (Friday) but I met my goal as expected.  Best part of this week was that I 1. ran a mile on the elliptical without slowing down at all, and 2. did two chin ups on Wednesday.  Worst part of this week for this goal is just how sore my legs are still even though the exercising was a bit on the minimal side.  I'm a bit timid about adding weight to my squat and my dead lift, but I'm not sure why.
• Sugar decrease = 50/100 - was kinda miserable at this one, which, this area of my life has always been bad, as I've said before.  From one of my pharmacists bringing the best donuts in the world to work (I probably ate 15 donut "holes" as they're called), to drinking a total of 32oz of mountain dew this week when my set limit was 20oz/week, I didn't do too hot.  Best part of this week was damn those donuts are so good.  Worst... DAMN those donuts are SO good!
• Bodyweight workout 1x/week = 100/100 - did about 60 push ups and a routine of various ab and core workouts this morning, and I'm going to do a bit more before going to bed tonight.  Best of this week was that my hips didn't hurt while laying on my back, and worst was my lack of focus when I do bodyweight exercises.  I'm going to try the "Gotch Bible" workout next week.

 

• Quote

  Gotch Bible: 

  Catch wrestler Karl Gotch's favorite workout was known as Gotch's Bible.

  You take a deck of cards.. leave two Jokers in..
  Shuffle really good..

  Black cards are squats and red cards are push-ups.

  Every time you deal a black card, you do twice the amount of repetitions as the face value of the dealt card. This means, if you get a black 8, you do 16 squats. If you get a black Ace, you do 22 squats.

  Spades are regular Hindu Squats, Clubs are Jumper Squats.

  The first Joker you pull means you do 40 hindu-squats consecutively.

  Every time you get a red card, you do push-ups. This time you do the actual value of the face card. If you get a red 8, you do 8 push-ups. If you get a red Ace, you do 11 push-ups.

  Diamonds are regular Hindu Push-Ups, Hearts are 1/2 Moon Push-Ups. 
  The second Joker you pull means you do 20 push-ups consecutively.

  Work your way up to completing a deck or keep track of the time it takes you to do a deck.
  Then do a wrestler's bridge with the best form possible try to hold it for as long as three minutes.

   

  
  
   

[The Spider]

Hit the gym on Tuesday, and going again tonight. Might get there tomorrow as well after work while wife is spending time with her friend she hasn't seen in a while. Did 5x5 bench, row, and pulldown. Tonight I'll do legs. 

 

I drank my fill of soda on Monday. No more soda this week! Also I learned that I absolutely cannot eat cheap pizza before bed. Heartburn all day the next morning!

 

I bought a lunch bag. Now to stock up on snack foods. Peanut butter, carrots, etc. Looking forward to controlling more of my diet.

[The Spider]

Did squats, deadlifts, and leg presses last night. Definitely feeling it in my legs today but I ran a mile after the workout and felt awesome. Until I tried to take my shirt off to shower because it was stuck to me lol. Had a protein shake before bed and woke up this morning hungry, which is huge for me, because usually I wake up with a stomach ache. Won't make it to the gym today so today will be rest day and I'll look into more kinds of affordable foods to take with me to work so I can continue to eat clean.

[The Spider]

Wound up sleeping way too long Friday.  I've been feeling sluggish again these past few days but I've been making it.  Went to the gym on Saturday, did arms, and I think I just didn't eat enough before going because my run was pretty weak compared to previous ones.  Still squeezed it out to the 1 mile mark on the elliptical, but I slowed down twice during the run for the first time since I started going to the gym again.

 

Still working on finding good snacks to bring to work and doing meal prep so I'm not tempted to just buy a big sandwich or pizza.

 

Last couple of times I hit the gym I didn't do my chin ups, though on Sunday I was at a friends house and their brother had a chin up bar attached to their door frame, so I got to do multiple chin ups on that.  Did two whole chin ups both times I attempted, which was an improvement for me!  Now I'm hoping to find a chin up bar for my apartment to keep that trend going upwards.  Hooray for victories!

 

Also, drank my fill of soda for this week.  No more soda this week!

[The Spider]

For some reason my store suddenly started carrying individual bottles of Mountain Dew Code Red... oh, how I've missed it...

 

So I've definitely failed on the soda goal for this week... twice now... sheesh.  Made it to the gym and ran 1.25 miles this time, so I'm definitely making improvements in my physical ability!  But sugar is still a serious problem for me.

[Sloth the Enduring]

Sugar is a Boss battle. Bounce back, try again, you'll get it.

[The Spider]

Retrieved the newly repaired vehicle that was mangled by the deer that hit us on Thanksgiving.  Car looks great!  Then one of the people working there handed me two big boxes of wafer cookies... now I have even more sugary snacks in my apartment to not eat LOL.  Gonna have to have friends over and try to get rid of them that way.

[The Spider]

This week was a total flop.

No body weight workout, only went to the gym one time, and had way too much soda and just inhaled cookies like they were my life support.  Gonna chalk this up to remembering that I set goals to constantly strive to do better, not prove how good I already am.  I'm still leaps and bounds from where I was, but this week was bad, and I really don't have an excuse this time.  Hoping to kill it this last week.

 

In other news, I have the goals I'm going to set for next months challenge already planned.

[The Spider]

Over did the soda again already.  Up to 40 oz this week so far.

 

Made it to the gym and I feel like I accomplished something.  I'm up to 100lbs on the long pull machine and 80lbs on the pull down machine.  On top of that, I ran 1.1 miles with 3 breaks, each roughly 0.05 miles long.  Not my best but definitely not my worst.

 

My goal tomorrow is to go to the gym in the morning, hopefully early enough to swim.  I haven't made it to the pool once this challenge and I really want to do that at least once to kick this challenge in the 'nads.  My wife and I may make it to the gym on Saturday morning as well, so we may do a fitness class.

 

In other news, I've decided I'm going to use the JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge in June, which is a 3.5 mile race.  I'll use it to be a rough measure of how well I'll do in the Spartan Race.  I've always been cool with obstacles like climbing and crawling, etc, but distance running has never been my strong suit.