Thal Searches for his Motivation

[Thalianost]

Well spring is here and the sun is shining.  Unfortunately, the sunshine isn't bringing me the energy it should.  Long hours at work, restless nights, and stress at home (did I mention I have 3 kids under 4?) are taking their toll.  Last week was crap for my goals.  Ate too much junk, slept too little, and didn't exercise.  This was also following a less than stellar challenge.  So, now I am trying to get some momentum back and get back into things before summer comes and the shit really hits the fan. 

 

Willpower has always been an issue for me especially late in the challenges.  I have been trying a few different tools to help me out on this front, but ultimately it comes down my will and my routine.  Since I am low on willpower these days and my life is such that I need to be a little more flexible in my routine right now, I am going to build some flexibility into my goals. 

First is of course lifting followed by sprints.  I did pretty well with these last challenge but with my schedule being as fluid as it is right now I need to be able to bend a little more so I am going to allow the option to bike into work as a replacement for any given workout but I still need to keep 4 workouts a week. 

Third is diet.  I am going to be breaking from my previous challenges a bit for this one.  On weekdays I am going to stick to the 180g protein minimum 2500 cal max, but on weekends I am not going to penalize breaking those goals as long as I keep track of all my food on MFP.  I found last challenge that after weekends where I splurged my performance in workouts was better and I actually made progress cutting fat so we are going to see if I can keep that going or not. 

Finally, the doll house.  I got nothing done on this last challenge and time is slipping by.  I am going to shoot for working on it one day a week for an unspecified period of time.  Hopefully I can make some progress this time. 

 

In Short:

Q1:  Lift 3 days a week (or bike)

Q2:  Consume at least 180 g protein per day while staying under 2500 calories (MFP only on weekends)

Q3:  Sprint 6x30 sec 1 day a week (or bike)

SQ:  Work on Doll House 1 night per week. 

[Jord]

I don't have time at the moment to read fully and respond thoughtfully but I wanted to say that I'm following and I'll come back to reply appropriately tomorrow!

[Grumble]

19 hours ago, Thalianost said:

Since I am low on willpower these days and my life is such that I need to be a little more flexible in my routine right now, I am going to build some flexibility into my goals. 

 

Willpower, as has been said and you are obviously aware, is a finite resource. So I ask these questions

Do you have any support at home towards building some of these to a habitual level?

How are you tracking your challenges?

Have you already been tracking your food?

[Laghail]

Following!

[Thalianost]

7 hours ago, Grumble said:

 

Willpower, as has been said and you are obviously aware, is a finite resource. So I ask these questions

Do you have any support at home towards building some of these to a habitual level?

How are you tracking your challenges?

Have you already been tracking your food?

Not a great deal of support at home, I am definitely the healthy one/the one with the most willpower in my house.  I am actually trying to encourage my wife to get more active.  Uphill battle.

Yes to the other two, I have a spreadsheet for the challenge, I have been using MFP regularly since January and off and on before that.  I am also using LifeRPG to try do gamify it all a little more. 

[Grumble]

6 minutes ago, Thalianost said:

Not a great deal of support at home, I am definitely the healthy one/the one with the most willpower in my house.  I am actually trying to encourage my wife to get more active.  Uphill battle.

Yes to the other two, I have a spreadsheet for the challenge, I have been using MFP regularly since January and off and on before that.  I am also using LifeRPG to try do gamify it all a little more. 

Choir, see preaching to. There's not much you can do beyond be supportive and encourage her to want to be more active.

 

Maybe too many places you need to remember to look at? That can get pretty draining itself.

 

 

I've only got one two year old, so I can only imagine what chaos embodies your home. 

 

If you need to bend an ear, I can offer a virtual one. I don't sleep much more than 6 hours a day, so I'm pretty reachable. Feel free to PM me anytime.

[MaylaKae]

Following! 

[Jord]

14 hours ago, Thalianost said:

Not a great deal of support at home, I am definitely the healthy one/the one with the most willpower in my house.  I am actually trying to encourage my wife to get more active.  Uphill battle.

 

 

It is basically IMPOSSIBLE to encourage a spouse to exercise. Or anyone for that matter. It something you have to come to as your own realization and be self-motivated to do.

 

I tried to encourage my husband and knew better that you can't tell someone to exercise and think they will. Now I just try to live by example and invite him to workout with me when it's reasonable. He doesn't come with me when I go to my lifting gym but now he comes with me to the gym whenever I have a cardio day and does hikes with me and is starting to enjoy fitness more. But not because I asked him to, just because if you are around someone who exercises long enough, it usually starts to rub off on you. Just keep living by example, that's the best you can do!

 

That and provide an environment/schedule that is conducive to exercising. For example, if I asked him if he wanted to do 8 am in the morning hikes. that would be a big fat NOPE. So even though I'm a morning person and prefer weekend morning workouts, I wait to do hikes until the afternoon so he can join me. 

[Thalianost]

20 hours ago, Grumble said:

If you need to bend an ear, I can offer a virtual one. I don't sleep much more than 6 hours a day, so I'm pretty reachable. Feel free to PM me anytime.

Thanks, I will bear that in mind. 

5 hours ago, Taddea Zhaan said:

 

It is basically IMPOSSIBLE to encourage a spouse to exercise. Or anyone for that matter. It something you have to come to as your own realization and be self-motivated to do.

 

I tried to encourage my husband and knew better that you can't tell someone to exercise and think they will. Now I just try to live by example and invite him to workout with me when it's reasonable. He doesn't come with me when I go to my lifting gym but now he comes with me to the gym whenever I have a cardio day and does hikes with me and is starting to enjoy fitness more. But not because I asked him to, just because if you are around someone who exercises long enough, it usually starts to rub off on you. Just keep living by example, that's the best you can do!

 

That and provide an environment/schedule that is conducive to exercising. For example, if I asked him if he wanted to do 8 am in the morning hikes. that would be a big fat NOPE. So even though I'm a morning person and prefer weekend morning workouts, I wait to do hikes until the afternoon so he can join me. 

Yeah, I don't generally push her to exercise, I usually wait for her to bring it up and try to nudge her in the right direction. 

 

Been doing alright so far, though I need to do a little catchup to get my workouts done for this week, I lifted Monday and  biked into work on Tuesday but couldn't workout today because my mother in law has quarantined herself in the basement where I lift.  Plus, there was cleaning that needed to get done.  No progress on the doll house yet. 

[AugustaAdaByron]

Hello! I'm here to follow.

[Thalianost]

I finished the week reasonably well last week.  I didn't get a full 3rd workout in because my mother in law was sick/sleeps late but I did some body weight excercises on the days when she slept too late so I am going to count that as half a workout.  The weekend was ok, there was overeating because family/buffet/party.  But I did log it as best I could so that's a win.  I didn't get any work done on the doll house last week, I just didn't have the time. 

 

Today, I managed to get a workout in.  I even managed a PR in Deadlift despite a chronic lack of sleep the past several nights.  (Babies, whatca gonna do?) Hopefully, I will be able to get the rest of my workouts in this week. 

[Thalianost]

Ups and downs this week.  I got all my workouts in even got a couple PR's this morning (overhead press and deadlift) probably because I actually got a descent amount of sleep last night.  Unfortunately, my diet fell apart yesterday but I am back at it.

Still no work on the doll house but I have a day off tomorrow so hopefully I can spend a little time on it. 

[Laghail]

Setbacks happen, just keep at it with the dang diet.

[Jord]

Congrats on those PRs!

[Thalianost]

Hasn't been the best week for lifting, I had to do a short workout on Monday and I guess I was just too sleep deprived on Tuesday, I didn't perform too well.  Diet has been ok.  I have been keeping up with MFP on the weekends, next challenge I will reinstitute diet restrictions on the weekends. 

[elvenengineer]

Tracking is always the first step, and you're killing it!

 

That which gets measured gets improved and all that

[Thalianost]

The past couple days have not been the best.  On Wednesday I put off sprints till Today but when today arrived I found I was too busy, hopefully I can make them up somewhere.  Thursdays workout wasn't great either, not sure what it is but I couldn't manage all my sets.  Hopefully I will recover over the weekend and have a good workout on Monday. 

 

[Laghail]

37 minutes ago, Thalianost said:

The past couple days have not been the best.  On Wednesday I put off sprints till Today but when today arrived I found I was too busy, hopefully I can make them up somewhere.  Thursdays workout wasn't great either, not sure what it is but I couldn't manage all my sets.  Hopefully I will recover over the weekend and have a good workout on Monday. 

 

Keep plugging away, making notes on what works for your schedule. You got dis.

[Thalianost]

Still kinda hit and miss.  Blew my diet on Friday, didn't keep track on Saturday.  I didn't make up the sprints from last week but I got my other workouts in and I spent a few hours on Sunday digging out a stump by hand (1 down 3 to go).  I performed fairly crappy due to exhaustion except for a Bench PR that came out of nowhere on Monday.  I need to catch up on sleep (like that's ever going to happen). 

 

I did manage to work a little on the doll house, just installing a couple windows.  I will try to get a picture before I make any more progress so I have the before shot. 

[Grumble]

Don't worry about "catching up" on sleep. Just plan for better sleep in the future. Do you have a nighttime ritual that you do to get ready for bed?

[Laghail]

1 hour ago, Thalianost said:

Still kinda hit and miss.  Blew my diet on Friday, didn't keep track on Saturday.  I didn't make up the sprints from last week but I got my other workouts in and I spent a few hours on Sunday digging out a stump by hand (1 down 3 to go).  I performed fairly crappy due to exhaustion except for a Bench PR that came out of nowhere on Monday.  I need to catch up on sleep (like that's ever going to happen). 

 

I did manage to work a little on the doll house, just installing a couple windows.  I will try to get a picture before I make any more progress so I have the before shot. 

Bench PR is a fickle god, giving and taking gainz with cruel whimsy. 

[Thalianost]

Don't worry about "catching up" on sleep. Just plan for better sleep in the future. Do you have a nighttime ritual that you do to get ready for bed?

More or less, but falling asleep is not the problem, I can be out at 8 pm if my wife isn't keeping me up and lately she is out by 9. The problem is the babies and the toddler and the small dog with a small bladder. Then I'm up at 5 to help my wife get out the door.

[Thalianost]

Last night my wife was nice enough to let me sleep despite the storm that was keeping her up, she just woke up everyone else instead.  I did rather well in my workout this morning.  I hit a PR in Overhead Press and had a respectable showing in my other exercises.  I did especially well with my pull ups, not great but better than average for me, and I think it was due to a breathing trick I heard about.  Basically, I hyperventilated by taking 15 deep, fast breaths before beginning the exercise.  The idea is to super-oxegenate your blood and therefore your muscles to give them a little boost.  Based on this one experience I would say there is something to it, though I don't recommend it for heavy lifting since there is a bit of a head rush.  Wouldn't want anyone passing out under a 250 lb bar. 

[Laghail]

Props on the PR Thal! Pullups are a tough mistress for me, and my form gets funky after a few reps. I'll try the hype up trick, meanwhile I'm just trusting on grinding out reps to up my endurance.

[Thalianost]

Ok, wrap-up time.  Didn't finish strong, but there is always next challenge. 

lifts:  88%

sprints:  75%

Diet:  59%

Doll House:  25%

+2.6 STR, +0.3 DEX, +0.8 STA, +1.9 CON, +0.3 WIS, +0.6 CHA

 

Now that we are entering my busy season at work, I may have less free time to spend on fitness but I am going to set up a challenge and try anyway.  I am thinking about incorporating other non-fitness goals as well, we will see what I work out.