Jarric

Excellent, well done to you and your dog. What breed is he?

Thursday - W1D4 Only 6 cigarettes yesterday of my allotted 8, which I'm pleased about. Will be interesting to see what happens over the weekend when I have no set limit. No swimming yesterday, just got up too late. Didn't swim this morning either so while I've completed the weeks swims I'm a bit disappointed in how little time I've actually spent in the pool. Sleep goal is on track though so as I'm feeling more rested hopefully the getting up and swimming bit will come. Gym after work was horribly busy again. Really wish there was a way I could go in the middle of the day when it's quieter, but that's the downside of a 9-5. Weekend session should be better at least. Yesterday's session went something like this: 5min row warm-up - 1181m BB row/twist/press - 12.5kg x 4 x 8 Lunges - 30kg x 4 x 12 Cable chest fly - 35lbs x 3 x 8 Inverted row - couldn't get on a bar Cable lat pull-down - 65lbs x 4 x 10 Bastards - 3 x 12 After work got home to do my daily dare (4min speed bag punches) and my ranger mini (500 punches). My shoulders and elbows were not please about this, so I alternated 1min speed bag punches with some normal punches x 4. Finished the rest of the straight punches whilst cooking dinner (my first attempt at cooking chicken paella, was very nice actually!). Evenings seem to be so short with gym, other exercise, cooking and eating, Duolingo and still going to bed by 11.Still, I did get my Duolingo done (51XP), and got time to watch an episode of The Magicians. Still not sure what to make of it; we're only on episode 2 in the UK and it's weird as hell, but I could see myself getting into it. W1 stats Poison Resistance: 4/7 Grinding: Gym 2/2, Badminton 1 Swim 3/3 Learn a New Skill: Duolingo: 243/350XP Full Health: Teeth 8/14, Sonic & Floss 4/7 NB: I messed up in a couple of previous posts, because I forgot I was counting brushing out of 14 rather than 7 Bedtime 4/7 Save Your Progress: Here I am

Thank you You're right, definitely don't want to push too hard too soon. I'll try and make a good judgement on it. Thank you, good to have you here!

Chicken Paella. It turned out very nice actually.

Excellent song; gonna put this on now while I make dinner

You are doing amazing with that PT!

My shoulders were not having any of the speed bag punches today; I couldn't keep my arms up. Cut them up with normal punches in between for the ranger mini. So done, but no EC.

Awesome job signing up for the race, that's gonna be awesome! EDIT: Did I just use awesome twice in a sentence? Looks like it. Must be because of how awesome that race is going to be... Awesome. For the circuits I think I'd be tempted to split them vaguely into muscle groups, so you don't randomly draw all leg work/all arm work etc. (or, conversely, it would let you choose to only draw from one muscle group if you felt like it)

Welcome back, hope the trip was ok!

Kitten pictures please! Also, well done on the goals so far, points everywhere!

Wednesday - W1D3 Only had 7 of my 8 cigarettes today. I've never tried to give up smoking before, and this cutting down is a weird thing. I'm starting to realise that without the pressure of being told I can't smoke, and with a bit of concious thought about whether I really need a fag at any given moment, I don't actually want to smoke that often. Will have a look at stretch goals and rewards over the weekend; maybe push up my schedule on the whole stopping thing. Swimming yesterday was again a wake up a bit late and procrastinate thing, so I only got 18 minutes in the pool (700m in 17:55 to be exact). Technically it completes the challenge for the week, but I'd like to get in a proper long swim tomorrow (I missed today's) to make me feel better about it. After work I had badminton, which I lost 4-0 but was at least good fun. Then went home and straight into my push-ups for the ranger mini. Push-ups were 3 sets of 4 wide, 8 standard, 4 diamond; barely made it through with more rest than I would have liked. Then into the Darebee for the PvP; 50 knee to elbow lunges. Certainly felt like I'd had an active day by that point! Showered, did Duolingo (61XP). Mrs made an excellent meal of pork shoulder and veg in a sauce of honey, mustard and white wine vinegar, and watched Mysteries of Laura and an old NCIS. Just before bed I did some boiled eggs to take to work for breakfasts the rest of the week, and sandwiches for the Mrs and my lunches. Teeth were brushed, sonic'd and flossed, and in bed at 11pm. Tonight is gym night, which I'm looking forward too. Might add in the bench press I couldn't do on Monday. Also need to do 500 punches for the ranger mini and 4 minutes speed bag punches for the daily dare. Think my shoulders may be angry tomorrow! W1 stats Poison Resistance: 3/7 Grinding: Gym 1/2, Badminton 1 Swim 3/3 Learn a New Skill: Duolingo: 192/350XP Full Health: Teeth 3/14, Sonic & Floss 3/7 Bedtime 3/7 Save Your Progress: Here I am

Good to have you! Cheers, have added you. Don't think I'll give you much competition during the week though; too much time at a desk! I know, it's great isn't it? Definitely worth stealing!

Wow, sounds like you've done some pretty cool stuff @Schaengel. Love the musician jokes. How many singers does it take to screw in a lightbulb? One, they just hold it and the world revolves around them. How do you know when your stage is level? The drummer's drooling out of both sides of his mouth. Good luck with the audition tomorrow @barbarianbassbro ; you're gonna rock it!

Really interesting take on the challenge, looking forward to following along. Also, I too have a headache after a couple of pints of beef Seriously though, that's a good thing; cheaper nights out and you know it's because you're a bit less used to poisoning yourself.

Knee to elbow lunges done with EC. I assumed you were supposed to do them slow and controlled like you would normal lunges?

Awesome freeing comment. Always look after your legs and they will look after you!

Good solid goals; following along! For the reverse push-ups I would think reverse plank or reverse elbow plank would be a good substitute. Or if you can find a way to do it on an incline (arms slightly higher than your feet) that should make it easier.

Three things not often seen together in a sentence! Fitbit link in my signature; feel free to add me. Not that I'll stand much chance on most work days though :s .

Tuesday - W1D2 Yesterday did not start well. Got up at a sensible time, but then procrastinated and mess around for so long that I only got 15 minutes in the pool before I went to work. Glad I went and got some front crawl drills in, but not happy with how short it was. Also feels like I'm cheating on the challenge by only "technically" meeting this goal. Work was pretty quiet, so I wasn't feeling overly motivated but still kept on top of everything. Then after work went to see a little film you may have heard of... Thoughts about it in spoiler (definitely will spoil the film if you haven't seen it). Other than that, smoking on track, did Duolingo and Darebee PvP before going to see the film. The ranger mini called for me to do 500 punches throughout the day, so I got 100 in before leaving to go swimming, 200 before the film and 200 after the film. My shoulder if a bit sore today, but nothing major (I hope). I also tried measuring my body fat % using this spreadsheet (all credit to @Geek On Fire for making and sharing this; thanks man!). Mean count came in at exactly 15% (median at 15.51%) which I'm reasonably happy with. Not sure where I want to go with this yet, I've got an idea in the back of my mind that single digits would be nice, but maybe that's a touch ambitious! Anyway, will track once/twice a week during this challenge and see what's going on with it. Got home from the cinema at 23:15, did punches, made today's lunch, measured myself and came on here. Upstairs at 00:15 and in bed at 00:20 (once again 5 minutes late, and once again I'm counting it). W1 stats Poison Resistance: 2/7 Grinding: Gym 1/2, Badminton 0 Swim 2/3 Learn a New Skill: Duolingo: 131/350XP Full Health: Teeth 2/14, Sonic & Floss 2/7 Bedtime 2/7 Save Your Progress: Here I am

Finally found/caught up with your challenge man. It's interesting that you say bassists get jokes about being stupid. Where I am (in England) bassist get a reputation for being aloof and thinking they're the only real musicians in the band (drummers get all the jokes about being stupid, I could tell a lot of them). I play bass myself so I know the feeling of trying to show the lead guitar who's boss! Also, checking yourself out in the mirror is totally worthwhile. My Mrs laughs at me for flexing my "muscles" in front of the mirror, but it really helps me feel I'm making progress. Good luck with the challenge man, I know you are going to rock it!

Australian crunches/injured seals done with EC. Felt quite silly doing them...

Spreadsheet doesn't look too bad to me; if it works for you then it works, you don't need more than that.

Congratulations on getting the interview. My Dad used to tell me "you know you're good enough for the job, so you're really there to see if the job's good enough for you". Might be relevant here I feel.

Well done on the run, good pace! Thanks for the spreadsheet too; I'll have a play with it and see what I get.

Monday - W1D1 Got up, brushed teeth and went swimming (as previous post). After work it was gym day. My gym was horribly busy, and I had to abandon my bench press as I couldn't get on a bench for the whole hour I was there. Anyway, here's what I did do: 5min Row warm-up - 1115m DB side raise/front raise/hammer curl/press - 4kg x 4 x 6 Core - 3 x 10 of: a - weighted leg extensions - 5kg b - KB twists - 8kg Squats - 30kg x 4 x 10 Lat pull down (machine) - 27kg x 4 x 11 Chest press (machine) - 70lbs x 2 x 10, 65lbs x 4 x 10 Tried to do inverted press-ups for the Darebee PVP but thought my wrist was going to snap so I gave up on those. Got home and had dinner (Mrs made a courgette and red pepper frittata). Push-ups for Ranger mini were done, Duolingo was done. Smoked exactly my 8 fags for the day. Managed to make today's lunch and get upstairs before 11pm (ok, was in bed at 23:05, but close enough). Random thing, my toothbrush is apparently a "sonic" toothbrush. Doesn't make me feel much like Dr Who unfortunately. Nor does it look like this: W1 stats Poison Resistance: 1/7 Grinding: Gym 1/2, Badminton 0 Swim 1/3 Learn a New Skill: Duolingo: 72/350XP Full Health: Teeth 1/7, Sonic & Floss 1/7 Bedtime 1/7 Save Your Progress: Here I am