ixaera keeps on going~

[ixaera]

Mr Ix wants me to take money out of savings to get a special chair, but i really really hate that idea :S

MONEY

[Jord]

3 hours ago, ixaera said:

Mr Ix wants me to take money out of savings to get a special chair, but i really really hate that idea :S

MONEY

 

YOUR ENJOYMENT OF YOUR LIFE

[calanthrophy]

On 5/19/2017 at 10:55 AM, ixaera said:

lunatic, signing off to eat TWO servings of shrimp chips :|

 

Are shrimp chips what they sound like? Potato chips that taste like shrimp?

[ixaera]

3 hours ago, Taddea Zhaan said:

 

YOUR ENJOYMENT OF YOUR LIFE

 

Will decrease if I have to spend more months saving money for the siding!! I've spent so many... but yeah, you have a good point ><;;;;

 

3 hours ago, calanthrophy said:

 

Are shrimp chips what they sound like? Potato chips that taste like shrimp?

 

I'm unsure whether they contain any potato. Or whether they taste enough like shrimp. I would say they have a shrimpy taste and are super addictive and I like them more than most other chips! The ones I had recently were wasabi flavored :3

[ixaera]

My INTP was showing today. Training new guy and I basically infobombed the poor guy. I did my best not to but it was STILL the end result. Oops.

[Urgan]

47 minutes ago, ixaera said:

My INTP was showing today. Training new guy and I basically infobombed the poor guy. I did my best not to but it was STILL the end result. Oops.

 

Some jobs do that, lol. I'm sure he appreciated your help, regardless. 

[ixaera]

5/23/17

this week be like

 

Lifts

MMhmm

Low bar squats

1x5 45 lbs

3x8 65 lbs

(Superset banded pallofs for a lil abs, but forgot to superset planks with my rows oops)

 

Bench Press

1x5 50 lbs

1x3 60 lbs

1x3 70 lbs

6x5 84.5 lbs

Easy???? weird

 

T-Bar Row

5x5 72.5 lbs

 

Wide Grip Lat Pulldown

3x5 80 lbs

Superset with

Step Ups

3x10 24 lbs

 

Decided my spine was ready for some step ups, and it appeared to be. (Secondary legs thing is meant as more of a conditioning add on, but this didn't QUITE fit the bill for it, will have to up reps or something.)

 

Elliptical

1/4

not today. in theory I was "supposed to" but it isn't necessary and I was pooped

 

Earned: Vidja games time!

Spent: Vidja games time!

 

Average intake: 1443

Protein: 104g  2/6

 

Added sugar: 24g 2/5 <-- giving credit. Ate a delicious sandwich with 27g, no idea how much is added, but I refuse to allow that sandwich to break rules

Sat. Fat: 16g 2/6

 

Reward (buy something fun): On Track

 

Write! Every! Day!

2/7

 

Reward (big ticket alcohol/food item within average): On Track

 

Study Sometimes!

0

 

Do Yer Chores!

Litter, random tidying

Earned: 1 smallish treat

Spent: 1 small bag of cheetos puffs, 1 still in the bank

 

Gave away a cowboy chicken cookie b/c I did not realize those were enormous 500 calorie cookies and that kind of sugar bomb wasn't in the game plan today. Success. Work was hectic but mostly involved training. Gym was empty except for me, got 2 walks in, managed to write several paragraphs despite being tired. Would have liked to do more today but this is plenty good.

[ixaera]

Oh and I was poking around in my FitNotes app this morning and wanted to see what it thought my estimated 1RM was (it's never actually right, but I was between sets, as you do)

 

 

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

[Jord]

yay for being able to do step-ups! Progress is progress! 

 

 

and for your 1500# bench PR

[calanthrophy]

I am jealous of your massive bench strength.
Also, in the spirit of "don't knock it 'til you've tried it" I won't mention how awful shrimp chips sound.

[Urgan]

Oh calculators, failing so hard, making us lol.

[ixaera]

5/24/17

this week be like

 

Lifts

N/A

 

Elliptical

2/4

I went!

 

Earned: Vidja games time!

Spent: Nothing, so 1 in the bank :3

 

Average intake: 1574

Protein: 111g  3/6

 

Added sugar: 34g 2/5 nope, had a tasty tasty cookie  Also some dried cranberries which were sweetened with more sugar. Arg, oops. That's ok.

Sat. Fat: 16g 3/6

 

Reward (buy something fun): On Track

 

Write! Every! Day!

3/7

OMG FINALLY finished(ish) part 3, needs editing still, but I'm actually really happy with the way it opens. Probably  happier than with anything else I've ever written. It's nothing special, just banter between characters, but I really feel like the personalities shone through exactly the way I wanted them to for once. Progress!!

 

Reward (big ticket alcohol/food item within average): On Track

 

Study Sometimes!

1

I'm adding "piano practice" to things that count towards studying (it's skill building after all), so I earned and spent tv time last night.

 

Do Yer Chores!

Dishes & random tidying, also cooked

Earned: 1 smallish treat

Spent: 1 beer & 1 small cookie. Bank is now empty.

The beer ended up being heavier than imagined when I logged it, but I'm not going to penalize myself for that.

 

So far so good. Not dead yet. My massage therapist cold called me yesterday and I realized it has been a while (3 months) and with anxiety high, it's probably worth dropping money on. SIGH. Self care. It's a sign, right? Training is going pretty well. I'm encouraged by trainee's enthusiasm to shadow and ask questions, which I think are far more important than pre-existing skills. I forgot about Memorial Day, so got a mood boost yesterday when someone pointed out the 3 day weekend. Yay!

[ixaera]

5/25/17

 

Lifts

 

 

Bulgarian Split Squats

5x6 50 lbs

Swapping to barbell style next time I think, depending on how much of a pain it is to get a bench or box set up at the right height in/at the back of the rack.

 

Overhead Press

6x5 45 lbs

Got weirdly light-headed??? I blame early morning gymming. Fasted + caffeine, perhaps.

 

Reverse Hyperextensions

3x8 5 lbs

Gotta figure out another way. The machine thing with the straps and lever is just Too Big. I have to climb onto it then belly hop to get in the middle and the strap tends to fall off, and welp. Also found that I literally have to think "lift with butt" or I lift with my lower back, which absolutely does still hurt.

 

Close-Grip Bench Press

3x8 60 lbs

Superset with!

DB Rows

3x8 25 lbs

 

Just meant to be light on bench b/c HEAVY DAY is tomorrow.

 

Elliptical

2/4

Naw. Probably shoulda to make 4x but oh well.

 

Earned: Vidja games time!

Spent: Nothing, so 2 in the bank! That's a lot wow

 

Average intake: 1553

Protein: 95g  4/6

 

Added sugar: 21g 3/5 DID have 2x of those amazing coconut date rolls that Sprouts sells, but those count as not added sugar \o/

Sat. Fat: 14g 4/6

 

Reward (buy something fun): On Track

And another victory: I went grocery shopping this morning and nabbed a cookie intending to eat half as my chores reward, saw my added sugar might be a little too high for it and went for cheetos instead \o/ Did not eat cookie (yet) (soon)

 

Write! Every! Day!

4/7

Chapter 3 got a first pass edit and shared with the only 2 people I let read anything because I'm a twerp. If I ever have something halfway finished I may try to overcome that hurdle and share.

 

Reward (big ticket alcohol/food item within average): On Track

 

Study Sometimes!

2!

Not only did I bang my head against figuring out piano music, I wrote a tiny program that will spit out random choices for the options in Civ 6 advanced setup that don't have a "Random" choice. :-) I am a productive busy little bee yes

 

I earned and spent that tv time.

 

Do Yer Chores!

Laundry, groceries, cooked

Earned: 1 smallish treat

Spent: 1 120 cal bag of cheesy poofs

 

I battled weariness today and won. I'm not taking this victory for granted. The war is far from over.

 

 

Work was extremely slow (probably due to the impending holiday) so I carped that diem to get chores done, skill build, etc. Tomorrow I plan to use my protein off day and a sugar off day and possibly the saturated fat off day. We will see. I've promised to do pub night with my guild which means I am exceeding my one drink limit as well. The spoils? A cookie. Pizza. Some Tuaca. My chest muscles will be made of chocolate and cheese.

 

94 lb bench with my name on it in the morning gah

[Jord]

11 hours ago, ixaera said:

 

Reverse Hyperextensions

3x8 5 lbs

Gotta figure out another way. The machine thing with the straps and lever is just Too Big. I have to climb onto it then belly hop to get in the middle and the strap tends to fall off, and welp. Also found that I literally have to think "lift with butt" or I lift with my lower back, which absolutely does still hurt.

 

Do they have pulleys at your fancy pants hardcore gym? You could do kickbacks instead with the pulley set at floor height. 

 

11 hours ago, ixaera said:

 

 

Reward (buy something fun): On Track

And another victory: I went grocery shopping this morning and nabbed a cookie intending to eat half as my chores reward, saw my added sugar might be a little too high for it and went for cheetos instead \o/ Did not eat cookie (yet) (soon)

 

Yay! Winning the victory over the power of sugar! 

 

11 hours ago, ixaera said:

 

 

I battled weariness today and won. I'm not taking this victory for granted. The war is far from over.

 

 

 

11 hours ago, ixaera said:

I've promised to do pub night with my guild which means I am exceeding my one drink limit as well. The spoils? A cookie. Pizza. Some Tuaca. My chest muscles will be made of chocolate and cheese.

 

 

You have clearly mastered the art of powerlifting, please teach me your ways. 

[ixaera]

35 minutes ago, Taddea Zhaan said:

Do they have pulleys at your fancy pants hardcore gym? You could do kickbacks instead with the pulley set at floor height. 

 

This is actually on the shortlist of things to try out! I was also looking at this: http://www.menshealth.com/fitness/reverse-hyper

it uses an adjustable bench instead of a reverse hyper contraption, so in theory it should be easier with my body size. The drawback is that you can only modify via angle, though you could potentially use the weighted chains I guess?

 

I tried cable kickbacks at one point early on post-injury and they were a big no, but might be doable now. I've healed a lot! My back has been very accepting of the crap I've been doing lately (having to sit at work more, to train, this week of back-iffy moves in every workout). If anything, I'd say it's ENJOYING the new stuff (maybe not the sitting, that'd be nutso), which is how I wanted it to go *crosses fingers* I don't think I've even had noticeable sciatica (yes, a little bit, but less even than normal) this week. WOOOOOOOOO

not taking it for granted, though, my back has a history of the three steps forward two steps back style healing. The deadlifts Sunday will really show me where I'm at (only doing 65 lbs).

44 minutes ago, Taddea Zhaan said:

 

This is the face I made this morning on my bench sets. 94 lbs was HEAVY. I got through the first set fine, but the last rep on sets 2 & 3 was super hairy. Like, within a hair of failing hairy, got stuck on the way up and hulked my way through the rep. (LEG DRIVE! IT WORKS!) My lats were like "oh hi, I mean, I was just gonna be a wallflower at this party but I can see I'm needed now" I really wish I'd bothered to film anything today ><;; I wanted to see how bad that looked.

 

48 minutes ago, Taddea Zhaan said:

You have clearly mastered the art of powerlifting, please teach me your ways. 

 

step one: lift the heavy things!

step two: consume muscle parts!!!

step three: ????

step four: hulk out of your clothes, repeat

[Urgan]

4 minutes ago, ixaera said:

step one: lift the heavy things!

step two: consume muscle parts!!!

step three: SLEEP

step four: hulk out of your clothes, repeat

 

FIFY.

[MaylaKae]

I have a lot of catching up to do, but I saw princess bride and I was like "Okie! <3"

[ixaera]

5/26/17 & 5/27/17

 

Lifts

Bench Press

1x5 50 lbs

1x3 60 lbs

1x2 70 lbs

1x1 80 lbs

3x3 94 lbs

True strugglebus

 

Low Bar Squat

1x5 45 lbs

3x5 70 lbs

Fine

 

T-Bar Row

5x3 81 lbs

Heavy

 

Seated Leg Curls

4x11 55 lbs

 

Suppinated Pulldown

4x8 80 lbs

Tough!

The gym on Friday was humid as all get out and I felt like I was about to have to just swim outta there, but I got through. Really wish I had filmed bench because of those almost fails.

 

Elliptical

2/4

Didn't happen

 

Earned: Vidja games time! x1

Spent: Friday played a lot of ffxiv while drinking, Saturday a lot of Civ 6, so 1 left in the bank.

 

Average intake: 1668

Protein: 91g & 90g  4/6

This will fail

 

Added sugar: TOO MUCH BOTH DAYS (like, 50g & 100g or so respectively) 3/5 

Sat. Fat: 34g & 18g 5/6

Somehow got it yesterday vOv

MFP tells me Pad Thai isn't high in it, I'm less sure?

 

Reward (buy something fun): Nope

So, that's a fail no matter what I do today, so I'm just going to be reasonable today and track, anyway, but it will fix nada

 

Write! Every! Day!

6/7

Spending time (however brief) outlining Ch4

 

Reward (big ticket alcohol/food item within average): Technically I borrowed ahead, so it doesn't matter.

 

Study Sometimes!

0

Did nothing

 

Watched some stuff for quality time with the boyfriend, which I don't count really because how romantic is it to say "lol no I can't rent a movie I haven't practiced piano yet" and then thunked discordantly on it until I was satisfied, and then joined him. no. Honestly, I've only been doing that with him out of the house because it sounds so bad still. I could have code studied, but I did not.

 

Do Yer Chores!

Dishes

Earned: 1 smallish treat

Spent: an entire pint of savoy sorbet, which is not small :| Fail

 

Clearly something breaks down over the weekend. Why? I'm trying to figure out if I'm being too strict or if I need to instill better weekend discipline. Leaning toward the latter right now. Perhaps I should remove the ability for any big ticket items til I can prove I can just not do that. Perhaps the one drink limit needs to apply to any day forever. vOv not sure yet.

[Urgan]

2 hours ago, ixaera said:

Watched some stuff for quality time with the boyfriend, which I don't count really because how romantic is it to say "lol no I can't rent a movie I haven't practiced piano yet" and then thunked discordantly on it until I was satisfied, and then joined him. no. Honestly, I've only been doing that with him out of the house because it sounds so bad still.

 

LET ME PLAY YOU THE SONG OF MY PEOPLE is the absolute height of romance, what are you talking about.

[Jord]

On 5/28/2017 at 10:18 AM, ixaera said:

 

Clearly something breaks down over the weekend. Why? I'm trying to figure out if I'm being too strict or if I need to instill better weekend discipline. Leaning toward the latter right now. Perhaps I should remove the ability for any big ticket items til I can prove I can just not do that. Perhaps the one drink limit needs to apply to any day forever. vOv not sure yet.

 

My shit falls apart on the weekend as well. Because well, it's different than during the week. During the week I am at my desk at work, with my bottle of water, my challenge log, and my regularly scheduled activities. Then weekend comes and I'm like WUT IS CHALLENGE WUT IS STRUCTURE I DO WHAT I WANT. 

 

I know on Mondays I usually make a plan for the week that includes the weekend, but then it falls apart. I'm thinking about on Fridays (before I leave the office) making a plan for the weekend and putting reminders in my phone alarms. 

 

What are some ideas for things that could be helpful for you? 

[ixaera]

On 5/28/2017 at 11:41 AM, Urgan said:

 

LET ME PLAY YOU THE SONG OF MY PEOPLE is the absolute height of romance, what are you talking about.

 

The song of my people sounds bad XD

 

4 hours ago, Taddea Zhaan said:

 

My shit falls apart on the weekend as well. Because well, it's different than during the week. During the week I am at my desk at work, with my bottle of water, my challenge log, and my regularly scheduled activities. Then weekend comes and I'm like WUT IS CHALLENGE WUT IS STRUCTURE I DO WHAT I WANT. 

 

I know on Mondays I usually make a plan for the week that includes the weekend, but then it falls apart. I'm thinking about on Fridays (before I leave the office) making a plan for the weekend and putting reminders in my phone alarms. 

 

What are some ideas for things that could be helpful for you? 

 

I dunno *stands on head*

I get kinda defiant with myself and actively have thoughts like "well, I don't want to do that, so I'm going to do this instead"

it's frustrating

 

Sunday i lifted weights though. I did:

Rack Pulls

1x5 45 lbs

3x5 65 lbs

(I swapped this with snatch grip deads, partly because the day before my back had been a touch iffy, partly because I wondered why I would do a longer range of motion movement with back problems. There's no law that says rack pulls have to be heavy, which is I think why I dismissed it without a thought. But I think it'll work better.)

 

OHP

1x3 45 lbs

5x3 50 lbs

Heavy day, but not to the heavy weights yet

 

Lateral Cable Row

2x15 60 lbs

1x12 60 lbs

1x10 60 lbs

was going for hypertrophy here, uh, managed it. lol

 

Hyperextensions

2x15

2x10

Just bodyweight and oh boy are these muscles weak as hell

 

DB Lunges

3x20 24 lbs (each leg)

WOW cardio but that was the point--these were meant to work on conditioning. It was pouring rain and I was going to do sled or something instead if it was convenient, but this was my perfectly serviceable backup plan.

 

10 min on the treadmill to give my back a present

 

I'm taking a bit of a zero week b/c Shark Week and bad moods abound, but I'll be tracking the lifting closely. I need to figure stuff out. I'm all discombobulated and stuff isn't working. I've been overeating and my pants are getting tight. This is not the way to avoid a cut

 

Gonna put today's lifting and a sad thing in a new post to avoid overclogging this one.

[ixaera]

Today's lifts:

 

Bench Press

1x5 50 lbs

1x3 65 lbs

1x2 75 lbs

6x5 85.5 lbs

Went well, struggled on the last rep the last 3 sets, but no fails. Tried filming from a new angle, too much crotch to post.

 

Low Bar Squats

1x5 45 lbs

3x8 70 lbs

Badness. My back was iffy after set 1 but didn't hurt or anything. AND THEN, after the sets I bent down to pick up phone and water bottle and there it was. BADNESS. Sigh. I guess that means 65 lbs is the limit, and 70 lbs is over the limit. REALLY disappointing. My back did not spaz out, but it threatened to every time I bent over after that and is quite sore in a bad way now. (Note: It had been sore in a great way from Sunday's hypers, this is not that though.)

 

T-Bar Rows

5x5 73.5 lbs

Heavy

 

Wide Grip Lat Pulldowns

3x6 80 lbs

Supetset with

DB Step Ups

3x10 24 lbs (each leg)

The step ups felt completely fine despite the bending over drama so I just did them anyway. I hope to not regret this decision.

 

spent most of the 3 day weekend playing Cities:Skylines

I have a town called Orion Grove. It has 15k people in it, despite the fact that I killed 1000 of them off twice because of poopwater. Sorry tiny pixel people I"m still learning. PSA: if you put in a dam, CLOSELY monitor your water pumps to ensure they aren't sitting in poopwater that has washed backwards from the change in current power. Or just move your pumps above the dam immediately.  Had hearses working overtime #worstmayorever

 

At least my traffic isn't too bad, though.

[ixaera]

Triple post sorry. But. Since I can't do 70 lb squats, what is the general consensus? Is it worthwhile to rep up to 20 reps on 65 lb squats at this point, or would it be wiser to sub in something else? I assume I may hit a similar limit on rack pulls, so same question there. Any idea??

 

Obviously I'd be super careful with higher reps too, and there may be a limit that is pre-20 reps (I am thinking anything past 20 reps is completely useless).

 

My current thought is the exercise is such a good full body exercise that it might be worth doing even at a light weight. Also, I will probably ramp up other hypertrophy on legs to avoid looking like a chicken legged bro.

[Jonesy]

5 hours ago, Taddea Zhaan said:

My shit falls apart on the weekend as well. Because well, it's different than during the week. During the week I am at my desk at work, with my bottle of water, my challenge log, and my regularly scheduled activities. Then weekend comes and I'm like WUT IS CHALLENGE WUT IS STRUCTURE I DO WHAT I WANT. 

 

I am the same and it's frustrating. I've tried scheduling appointments or activities to help create a schedule but it only seems to make it worse. I'm like a teenager without her parents home for the weekend. 

 

1 hour ago, ixaera said:

Had hearses working overtime #worstmayorever

At least my traffic isn't too bad, though.

 

You could say you were creating jobs...

[ixaera]

On 5/30/2017 at 1:57 PM, Jonesy said:

 

I am the same and it's frustrating. I've tried scheduling appointments or activities to help create a schedule but it only seems to make it worse. I'm like a teenager without her parents home for the weekend. 

 

 

You could say you were creating jobs...

 

ehehehehehe

 

More lifts today. I decided since I half-broke myself on squats Tues it was a good time to dial down weight and swap from dumbbells to the barbell on split squats. It worked out well. My back is no longer angry, also, but I have had a bit more sciatica in toes than usual. It is dissipating though.

 

TODAY

Barbell Bulgarian Split Squats

5x5 45 lbs

 

OHP

6x5 46 lbs

 

Some pallofs superset in there for abz

 

I then tried to do reverse hypers with an incline bench and tipped the bench over.

 

 

I'm not sure how a 110 lb person tips a bench when a full grown man in a video wouldn't, but I'm sure there's a solid physics answer in there involving center of gravity and my HUGE BUTT.

 

So anyway, those are out so I took @Taddea Zhaan's suggestion of cable kick backs, and those worked just fine.

Cable Kick Backs

3x8 30 lbs (wow, I am literally way stronger in the upper body now that's great)

 

Close Grip Bench

3x8 60 lbs

DB Row

3x8 25 lbs (each side)

No I don't really bump these up much because of heavy day tomorrow, so I'm just activating muscle groups and working triceps and a slightly different barpath.

 

What else am I up to? Mostly eating a lot of junk food and floundering and gaining belly fat vOv why not

 

Anyway, I decided it was cut time. (I know, *groan*)

Next week I'm starting a program I bought from an online trainer (that I trust) just to see how I like it. It's a fairly SIMILAR thing to what I already do, I just want to feel out what someone else with a solid background in this stuff might prescribe.

 

And yeah, I'm moving this direction for now in part because standard strength programs are out because of my inability to do typical squats & deadlifts at a challenging weight, so why not work this angle for a while and lean out. I definitely need to shake things up anyway, and the program also focuses food and I need a bit more direction there lately. Seriously, I couldn't eat less vegetables if I tried.

 

The only thing with this program is I STILL have to sub out squats & deads & barbell row, but I think it'll work out. Going to do BSS's instead of regular squats, going to try the 90 degree leg press in place of full deadlifts (my herniated-more-than-me friend does this kind with no issue, so I'm gonna try it out), and maybe hamstring curls instead of stiff legged deadlifts?? Or maybe do cable kick backs here?? Unsure which is a better sub.

 

That's life and stuff.