Desert Miner Rebel

[Egg and Lettuce]

Hi,

*note please excuse my punctuation, grammar etc English was never my strong point in school and I haven't developed much with it since.*

My names Mark but you can call me anything you like, I'm 27. In my spare time i read a lot of fiction, I collect records (mostly punk) and try to learn something new every week. I like to ry new things and am a little sad that I moved away from the ocean and can no longer wake board in my spare time. I am considering doing a distance education mechanical engineering course to upgrade the skills I currently have. I live in the desert but its not all flat and sandy, it's an iron or region so it is full of hills and valleys and hidden water holes. I like to explore and just go for a hike. It gets to 50 degrees C here for some of summer and drops below 0 some nights in winter. Its a 10 hour drive to the nearest city and the next closest town is 4 hours away.

For work I am a mechanical fitter, carrying out break down maintenance at the largest iron ore mine in Australia. At work I am on my feet a lot, I work on big equipment with heavy parts and heavy tooling, I will carry 20 - 40 kg of tools up 15 flights of steps for some jobs on others Ill just drive straight up to it. As you can see my job is quite active. I am a shift worker doing 4 days on, 4 days off, 4 nights on,4 off.

Despite my work I have never been that fit. I sabotaged myself, eating lots of chocolate and energy drinks while I was on shift just to get through. My diet was miserable and I didn't care. I had no definition, I wasn't over weight but was more fat then muscle, I believe the term is skinny fat.

For the past 8 weeks I have been running my own challenges. The first month I gave up sugar altogether, the only sugar I get now is from fruit. I revamped my diet altogether and have developed a somewhat paleo diet for myself. I no longer have any processed foods in my diet, the only thing I eat from a tin is tuna. I eat vegies, meat, fruit, nuts I still have milk in my diet but its 1 - 2 cups a day no more. Once i had that under control I started exercising. I follow a crossfit/300 routine and have seen good results, I am a little defined now and i am not bulking up terribly (this is not one of my goals, i'd like to put on a bit of mass but not much) Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanyway.. I have read the blog for the past 3 months but didn't sign up here for a couple of reasons, I have tried to be a member of a forum before but found everyone to be rude a snobbish, it was not an enjoyable place to be a part of and 2 i have a fear of public failure so I wanted to give it a go in private.

I haven't joined a gym as I like to exercise outdoors. I have accumulated bit of equipment to use. I have pullup/dip rings, have made some sandbags, have a weight bench, barbell , dumbbells, resistance bands, medicine ball. This has been enough for a start, I will be building in more equip as i go but as you can imagine its difficult and expensive to get things up here.

I plan on joining the next 6 week challenge and getting fully involved in the community like that.

My current goals for myself are to get up to -

15 dead hang pull ups (currently on 8 - 10 depending on the day)

20 good form decline push ups from a 24" box

20 floor wipers straight no rest.

start learning Chinese (mandarin) putting in 30 mins a day (am using Rosetta stone)

I have no time limit on these goals they are just what I am currently working on. When the start date for them next 6 eek challenge rolls around some of them may even be in there.

I am going to focus on working out what my attribute points are and find out what class I fit into, i am leaning towards ranger but you never know will need to do some more research into myself.

Anyway glad to be here.

[Pat G]

Egg and Lettuce. It is good to have you with us.

Your name makes me hungry.

You're up in the Pilbara i take it. I've got friends working down in Kal, they were FIFO for a while, but it killed them, so they just moved there and they still struggle.

It is good to see you've settled in well and you're beating the usual mindset that seems to have taken over the guys i know that moved over there! That you've managed to collect a good bit of exercise equipment, i can see you going far with it. (I'm sure you've read steve taking his rings down to Ecuador)

The guilds are only a guideline, considering you hike, do weights, bodyweight exercises you could join any of them. Perhaps because your goals are bodyweight, assassins may be for you.

Welcome again!

Being a fitter, have you ever worked on or modified a car?

[Egg and Lettuce]

Cheers for the welcome Pat. Yea certainly am in the Pilbara, it is a struggle at first but you sort of have to just force yourself to jump on in. Still has its slow times but i am content.

I do a little bit with cars, service my own cars (oil and filters, grease bearings replace bushes etc) and before I left Qld i had a Holden EK special which I tinkered with a little. I do know some people with a lot of knowledge about cars though if you have any questions you want me to pass on (panel beaters and mechanics).

Am looking forward to getting more involved in this community and hopefully learn some things myself.

See ya round like a rissole.