Jarric

Seconding this; that sounds like a great way to start any journal post.

Balancing done but no EC. Can someone explain to me why I find this so easy with my eyes open, but as soon as I close my eyes I can't balance? What's the science behind that?

Strength goal completed. Over the course of this week I have done 2,000 punches and 75 push-ups. Final record for reps in a single set is 27. I know that that's a lot more than I could do a year ago, but I've never recorded a target before. Gonna write it down somewhere as a benchmark for the future. Bonus goal: I'm quite new here, so I'm following quite a few people for the first time anyway. I thought I had failed this as the people I was planning to do this on didn't post very much, and I found it hard to post with nothing to respond to. I double checked however and I have posted 5 times on one of my new follows. It felt good to be encouraging, and it makes me feel more part of the community. I have realised however that I am pretty bad at initiating conversation online as well as in real life, and it's probably something I need to work on. I am much more comfortable talking when I feel I can provide information or advice, rather than just generic encouragement or comment. So points for team Iron Man!

Thank you very much It was good; it was a pre-packaged "slow cooked" piece and just fell off the bone. And did the carrots and parsnips with onion salt, which is bloody magic stuff

Stretch Goals Adding a new stretch goal, and recapping the ones from the start of the challenge: Gym - Bonus 5 XP for 12 or more gym sessions during the challenge Swim - Bonus 3XP for any week with 5 swims (can be cumulative) Smoking - Bonus 1XP for any day on which I smoke 0 cigarettes (can be cumulative) Note: Points are only awarded for stretch goals if the associated main goal is completed, so I can't excuse a bad week with a great week. Rewards A couple of bits I will give myself for completing my goals: Gym - If stretch goal is completed I will buy new gym shoes. I've realised (thanks in part to the recent NF article on gym gear) that as I don't run at the gym there is no good reason for me to be wearing running shoes to go there. Swim - If main goal is completed I will buy new prescription goggles (had this as a goal last challenge, and failed to meet it and get the reward).

Saturday - W1D6 Yesterday was open day at Mrs' college, so I spent a good portion of the day wandering around there. It's an agricultural college, so it was more like a fare with areas shows in falconry, goose herding, horse displays etc. Was quite fun and nice to wander around all day. I did indulge in a huge piece of chocolate cake whilst I was there; it was calling my name! 600 punches were done over the day for the ranger mini, and 1 minute heel clicks for the daily dare PvP. I did 200 punches and the heel clicks before heading out to the gym for my warm-up. Gym felt good, helped that it was almost empty (apparently 5pm on a Saturday is the time to be there!) went something like this: Squats - 30kg x 4 x 10 - think I've got the form on these, so weight increase coming soon! Incline bench - 25kg x 4 x 10 DB side raise/front raise/hammer curl/press - 4kg x 4 x 6 Core: a. Leg Extensions - 5kg x 4 x 10 b. KB v-sit twists - 8kg x 4 x 10 - need a lot of work on the core stuff, but I was pleased I managed to briefly get into a v-sit for this, rather than doing it with my feet down Lat pull down (machine) - 60lbs x 4 x 12 Cooked an amazing dinner of pork shank with mash, roast carrot and parsnip and red cabbage when I got home. Then Duolingo was caught up on (59XP). Also read my French article for the week (was a match report on Saracens v Racingmen in the Rugby European cup final - I got the gist but couldn't understand it word for word). Did body fat % again, maybe a little too soon after dinner, got 17.63% this time! Will have to keep doing it regularly to see how much fluctuation I can expect going forward. Cigarettes were counted, had 11 in total. That's probably still better than it would be if I weren't counting, but there's definitely room for improvement there. Teeth were brushed, sonic'd and flossed, and up to bed at 11pm. W1 stats Poison Resistance: 6/7 Grinding: Gym 3/2, Badminton 1 Swim 3/3 Learn a New Skill: Duolingo: 314/350XP, Articles Read: 1 Full Health: Teeth 12/14, Sonic & Floss 6/7 Bedtime 6/7 Save Your Progress: Here I am

Sounds like a great first week, well done! Guess I'm doing more steps than I thought at the moment

Hi there. What really worked for me getting into the gym was have a single session with a trainer. A lot cheaper than a full time trainer, just book one for one hour. Get them to show you 5 lifts, and to show you the best form for them. Then go for 6 weeks, as often as you can (with rest days) and just do those 5 lifts every time. By then it might be time to see a trainer again for another one hour session and update your plan. Training does not have to be complicated to be effective. Also, as mentioned above, focus on your nutrition. You can't outrun your fork so find a way of eating that works for you. With regard to sleep that's a more difficult one. You have enough time to do anything, but you won't have enough time to do everything, so you may have to consider what you are prepared to give up to make gym time. Discuss with your other half and try and put together a plan to do this as a team. I wouldn't recommend sacrificing sleep for exercise though, your body will need sleep to recover properly, so try and find something else in your schedule you can cut to make gym time. That's my two cents, but it's worth getting a few options and deciding what is going to work for you. Just whatever you do, do something now, the first step is the hardest.

I have no idea what's going on, but I like it. Following!

You've done so well on the trip, and the post trip stuff. Serious respect for the burpees, those things are hard work!

Well done on the race and the slide! Watching Eurovision now, it's so bad it's good!

Friday - W1D5 Failed to get up for swimming again yesterday, so the 3 short swims for the week are all I'll have. Got plenty of sleep though, and had a nice relatively quiet day at work. Went for a quick beer (and a half) with a colleague after work. Don't know if it's because I've been drinking less, or because it was hot, or what, but it knocked me out. Got home and Mrs cooked pie and veg, which was very nice. No exercise planned and therefore no exercise done. After dinner I went out to see a band in a pub up the road with my dad, so more beer was consumed. Despite the two drinking sessions I stayed on target with my smoking, and had 8/8, which I'm quite happy with considering. Teeth were brushed, sonic'd and flossed. Only did one practice in Duolingo for 12XP when I got home. I'm in two minds about doing it drunk anyway. On the one hand I'm certainly not learning as effectively, but on the other if I do go to a francophone country I'm going to be on holiday, so likely much beer will be consumed then too! Got home from the pub at 11:10, and went to bed at 11, which was a big win for me as usually after a few beers I'll stay up until 3/4 in the morning. W1 stats Poison Resistance: 5/7 Grinding: Gym 2/2, Badminton 1 Swim 3/3 Learn a New Skill: Duolingo: 255/350XP Full Health: Teeth 10/14, Sonic & Floss 5/7 Bedtime 5/7 Save Your Progress: Here I am

Getting towards the end of week; hope it's going well! How are the goals looking?

Heel clicks done with EC. Felt a bit odd... Without being too graphic I could have done with wearing tighter underwear...

This thread moves so damn fast! I've missed REBOOT (which I loved actually) and Captain Planet (was that what that was called?). So, spot the 90s kid! Well done on the good days, and on the body composition improvements. Also, I just wanted to say I love how many of your posts start with "Today is a good day"

Hope the race goes/is going/went well. It's been pretty sunny all day here do hopefully you've had the same

Good stuff on the measurements, hope you feel better soon.

Good luck with the work, see you when you get back

Thanks! I'm already starting to feel better for it actually, just hope I get to the stage where it helps me get up in the morning too!

Mine were pretty close between the two, shoulders definitely presented a balance issue. Done with EC though.

Well done on the 100 crunches! That's seriously impressive! Well done on the arse too! Glad in can deal with the aggressive demands of all sorts of activities... *snigger*

Good news on the car! It's not actually that uncommon for cars to be an insurance write off over their actual value (particularly for cheaper cars) because a. mechanics often charge more if they know it's going through the insurance, b. cosmetic damage costs a lot to repair and the insurer would have to do that (whereas you have the choice to just leave it dented) and c. because it saves the insurer a lot of paperwork. My last car cost me £250, and when someone went into the back of me I got the car back and £350. Cost me £27 to fix so was all a bit of a win. Glad you're mood is improving too, sure it'll get you back on track with the challenge goals soon enough

Well done on the points again; glad you have your appetite back

Speak to your doctor/physio if you can and discuss what strength work you can do at the moment. Frustrating I know but it's always better to be doing something. And don't worry about the audition; at least you've still got a shot. And you won't get every gig you audition for anyway, so try and get some more lined up - perseverance is key!

Yep, that's about the only salad I'll be eating. Or maybe an essential ingredient greek salad: