zenLara wants to do all the things (again)

[Mad Hatter]

They've probably already frozen off their pain receptors. 

[Lara]

7 minutes ago, Mad Hatter said:

They've probably already frozen off their pain receptors. 

I guess that would be the only option for me. Which method would you recommend?

[Mad Hatter]

Well I can't tell you because I'm in Camp Michelin man over Camp shorts. Or if I'm honest, Camp avoid leaving the house.  

 

But sauna followed by jumping in a hole in the ice is a thing so maybe that?  

[Lara]

2 minutes ago, Mad Hatter said:

Camp avoid leaving the house

Best Camp. Clever girl.

[NeverThatBored]

1 hour ago, zenLara said:

You wonder how people can work out and keep their makeup perfect (why would anybody put on make up to work out totally escapes me, by the way), I wonder how those people can put on their shorts when it's freezing

 

Apparently there's a guy who climbed Mt. Everest wearing shorts. #dreambig

[SymphonicDan]

1 hour ago, Mad Hatter said:

In Scandinavia we have a thing called insulation.  Inside temperatures are always super warm. I've honestly been way colder in both the UK and California!

 

In the UK we're so unprepared for extreme weather  And by "extreme" I mean anything that's not 10-20'C and overcast. When we get 2 cm of snow, we get newspaper headlines like "SNOW TRAVEL CHAOS FOR MILLIONS" and "TRAINS CANCELLED OVER WRONG TYPE OF SNOW". Meanwhile in Scandinavia they're half-buried under snow and it's just business as usual.

 

And then when summer comes we catch so much sunburn it makes Spanish and Australian people weep  It's like we forget what that flying ball of fire in the sky is for...

[WhiteGhost]

7 hours ago, zenLara said:

You wonder how people can work out and keep their makeup perfect (why would anybody put on make up to work out totally escapes me, by the way), I wonder how those people can put on their shorts when it's freezing

I grew up in Utah, which is nothing compared to Scandinavia but still cold enough in the winter to get a winter olympics.  Shorts with parkas was not at all uncommon in the winter there.

[Lara]

2 hours ago, WhiteGhost said:

I grew up in Utah, which is nothing compared to Scandinavia but still cold enough in the winter to get a winter olympics.  Shorts with parkas was not at all uncommon in the winter there.

 

9 hours ago, NeverThatBored said:

Apparently there's a guy who climbed Mt. Everest wearing shorts.

Crazy people are everywhere.

 

8 hours ago, SymphonicDan said:

TRAINS CANCELLED OVER WRONG TYPE OF SNOW"

This cracked me up.

 

 

40 sink push-ups to start the day in good spirits!

 

[Lara]

Yesterday there was not much done aside the push-ups. Did a selected list of icelandic vocabulary from the material I've read this week and then did a bit of flute technique. Went to meet a colleague for a midmorning coffe (a discrete way in Spain to say you're having second breakfast -some people only take a coffe, but others, well... hobbits everywhere) and then it was so so hot that for the rest of the day we just languished at home. Spent the afternoon and the evening re-watching starwars movies and allò allò episodes.

 

Todays activities are already planned. We're going for a short walk/run in the country before it gets to hot, and then we will go to the mall to do some clothes shopping (ugh, I love that we both hate it so it won't take long) and then we will go to boyfriend's parents' house. They are on a holidays trip and called yesterday to say their neighbour called about some water leak, so we are going today to check. And, it is a house with actual thick walls and insulated roof so it is always nice inside (we have the thick walls, but the not-insulated roof screws everything regarding indoors temperatures), so I'm taking my parallettes to do my workout there and then we will play in the pool.

[WhiteGhost]

4 hours ago, zenLara said:

Spent the afternoon and the evening re-watching starwars movies

So basically the perfect afternoon/evening

 

[Lara]

18 hours ago, WhiteGhost said:

So basically the perfect afternoon/evening

 

It would have been nicer with 10ºC less but it was ok

 

Walk didn't happen yesterday, it was too hot too soon, but parallettes and swimming did.

 

· plank side to sides 10 8 8

· assisted shoulder raises 3x8

· jump throughs 3x8

· assisted inverted press 5 4 4 These have improved a little bit. It is good news, because they have been the same -bad- for so long.

· swing sets 12 8 8

· crow 5 seconds and some other lame attempts.

· prep for candle stick. Totally controled. Ready to work on the candle itself.

· backward rolls prep. My back and neck are still feeling stiff.

· bridge prep. Added other back stretches to help.

· short swim, because my arms were yelling at me.

[NeverThatBored]

4 hours ago, zenLara said:

prep for candle stick. Totally controled. Ready to work on the candle itself.

 

Oooh, I don't know what this is but it sounds neat! Congratulations on the progression! 

[Lara]

Great morning today!

We left to the woods soon enough so the heat would be tolerable, and walked for one hour. Once again, we didn't see any animals, except for a rabbit I saw, my boyfriend was looking the other side when the poor thing passed running like a crazy before us. Boyfriend is seriously considering I lie  I can't understand why we see no animals when he comes with me. I thought it was because we talked, so we tried to walk in silence today, and still nothing. I am thinking it's still the noise, because he is noisier than I when he walks.

Then came back home and did my half handstand on the couch for 25 seconds, did 20 sink push-ups and had a bit of fun with candle stick. Some back and shoulder stretches and then a cold shower. Actually cold. We are having problems with our gas supply and we've been out of it since friday. Water comes out at f*** 10ºC, it is not fun. Body feels great when I get out of the shower, but the process itself is almost unbearable.

[Lara]

2 minutes ago, NeverThatBored said:

 

Oooh, I don't know what this is but it sounds neat! Congratulations on the progression! 

GMB have a series of variations of this, from rolling in a tuck position to the most open one, and you roll forward and backward with all of them, it is very fun to practice.

[SymphonicDan]

Haha, some people swear that the secret to a prosperous life is to have cold showers. Tough call though - do I want a prosperous life or do I just want long hot showers?

 

If the water is cold, put the shower first on your legs, working from the feet upwards, and your arms, working from the hands inwards. That way the blood vessels on the extremities contract first, keeping the warm blood in the inside. Going in torso-first is more of a shock and I don't see any benefit.

[Lara]

5 minutes ago, SymphonicDan said:

Haha, some people swear that the secret to a prosperous life is to have cold showers. Tough call though - do I want a prosperous life or do I just want long hot showers?

 

If the water is cold, put the shower first on your legs, working from the feet upwards, and your arms, working from the hands inwards. That way the blood vessels on the extremities contract first, keeping the warm blood in the inside. Going in torso-first is more of a shock and I don't see any benefit.

Yeah, I did that. Otherwise it is too much. But yet. Far too cold.

 

There seems to be plenty of people that feel great taking cold showers, and I do fine in summer (not this cold, however, I usually stay around 15-17ºC). I must say I always feel energized and positive afterwards, but my sensations during the shower itself are plain awful. And I just can't keep on taking them when winter comes.

[Mad Hatter]

Maybe it was a ghost rabbit  

 

Cold showers are the worst! I don't mind jumping in a cold lake (can't believe I just said that) but showers are so much worse as you can't just get the initial shock over and done with. 

[Lara]

Third week is over!

 

Everyday meditation: done everyday. Sessions going from 4 to 30 minutes depending on the day.

Daily music practice: excellent! Around 60 minutes everyday except for yesterday and today. I'm taking a short rest because of chapped lips.

Floor: progressing!

Self-defence: twice. Good!

Parallettes: once. Only once but good progress.

Stop reading the news: better. Phone is still a problem now and then, but compared to my blog readings, the new site is beginning to feel dull and unappealing.

Icelandic: 1 article, a few sentences from a book, vocabulary list.

Sink push-ups: 4 times. And I've gone up from 15 to 20, one day did 40 in 2 consecutive sets. I am now at the push ups accountability group, so I hope to do them everyday.

Cross country run: once. Wheather doesn't make things easy.

Lots of freggies and supplements: good on freggies, though improvable this week. Some supplements taken.

 

I'm happy that red color doesn't appear in my recap this week. Plenty of exercise and healthy eating.

Now, half the challenge is over, and I'd like to use 4th week to push myself a bit farther. 

[Lara]

So, cold water.

Yesterday we still had no gas, and I discovered myself looking forward to my fourth chilly shower. What? Yes, I was only thinking about one thing: how good I felt aftewards. It is curious, because at other times of my life I've done this thing of starting with warm water and then going back and forward to cooler one and finishing with cool one (and I even kept at it for one winter, many years ago), and I never had such intense feelings as these days when I jumped in in cold water from the start. And a pretty colder water than what I usually use voluntarily. These nice feelings go til the point that I found myself yesterday afternoon wanting another cold shower.

Now, yesterday evening everything got repaired, and what did I do this morning? I took another cold shower. I tried to hold it a bit longer until I said "I can't bear this anymore" and turned off the tap. And the same time I did it I thought "oh, no, I want more of this", so I opened the water again and stayed for 30 more seconds, chilling. Awful and yet, so good.

It seems that this is one of those activities in which I find a clear division between what my mind wants and what my body wants, just as when I was on the trampoline last year and my mind would say "don't you dare to do that again" and my body would just shout "more! more!".

[Mad Hatter]

Weirdo.  

[Lara]

36 minutes ago, Mad Hatter said:

Weirdo.  

 

Parallettes workout!

 

· plank push-ups 3+2+1 Not good, BUT, I already had 35 sink push-ups on my back from this morning, so a decent result.

· front dips 2x10 + 15

· couch half handstand 30"

· tuck hold. Tried to have my legs past the right angle to try to approach the L-sit. 3x15"

· mountain climbers 2x8 + 6

· chin ups. 5 + 3 with NO rest in between. I usually need to rest my toes for a second on the floor before the next one, today it was an actual chin up set . It felt so pro!  

· crow. Working with my head on a cushion to help finding the best spot for my head.

· candle stick fun.

 

I feel totally ready for phase 2, so next time there will be new exercises to practice.

[WhiteGhost]

1 hour ago, Mad Hatter said:

Weirdo.  

QFT

 

[Mad Hatter]

35 minutes ago, zenLara said:

No proof needed when you already confessed.  

[Lara]

23 minutes ago, Mad Hatter said:

No proof needed when you already confessed.  

I didn't.

@SymphonicDan betrayed me.

[SymphonicDan]

Those are some good numbers especially for the chin-ups! Did you mean that you remain hanging between each rep in a set, or between the two sets? If it's the latter then that probably counts as a set of 8

 

Ever do pull-ups?