[sylph]

After a bit of time away, I'm back for this challenge.

 

I've been in a slump for... too long. In hoping to turn that around, I have a single goal:

 

In September and October, workout on odd days.

This makes 31 workouts over two months, but only 22 workouts over the course of this challenge including this zero week.

Sept 1 and Sept 3 workouts are already complete.

That puts me at 2/22.

 

I know I will not 100% this goal. That's fine. But as soon as I start hedging it around with exceptions and caveats and extenuating circumstances, it will become much too simple to justify not doing it. I'll keep aiming for 22 over the next 6 weeks and see where I wind up in mid-October.

 

Current workouts are very short, circuit-type lifting sessions that (seriously) are lasting about 20 minutes. Given the temperature and humidity in my garage, this is about all I can handle before feeling like death is imminent. Also, given my state of de-conditioning, it's also serving to get me back into the swing of things. 20 minutes is a lot less daunting than 45 minutes or an hour.

 

I've currently got things divvied up into an A day and a B day and will just swap back and forth between them.

 

A Day:

Squat or variant

OHP or variant

Row or variant

 

B Day:

Deadlift or variant

Bench or variant

Pulldown or variant

 

That's it. Off we go, friends.

[sylph]

Note: I respond well to gentle harassment regarding my goals. If an even day passes and I've not posted about working out, I invite you to call me out on that.

[Artemis Prime]

51 minutes ago, sylph said:

A Day:

Squat or variant

OHP or variant

Row or variant

 

B Day:

Deadlift or variant

Bench or variant

Pulldown or variant

This was basically my summer program. A very solid, simple system. 

 

46 minutes ago, sylph said:

Note: I respond well to gentle harassment regarding my goals. If an even day passes and I've not posted about working out, I invite you to call me out on that.

Noted.

[sylph]

1 hour ago, Artemis Prime said:

This was basically my summer program. A very solid, simple system. 

Yep.

Squat, hinge, vertical push, horizontal push, vertical pull, horizontal pull.

 

Set/rep/weight/progression is currently less of a priority than just Doing The Thing for awhile.

[Cheetah]

Happy challenge!

 

[sylph]

Today's workout done. 3/22

 

Deadlifts

DB Bench

Lat Pulldowns

 

Rolled through in an even 20 minutes. Weights are slightly laughable at the moment and I'm trying not to care. Mostly succeeding even when I dropped 10 more pounds off of the pulldowns in order to improve lat engagement/MMC.

 

Whatever.

 

As I said: at the moment it's about the doing rather than the details. Plus, after way too long sitting around, even my laughable numbers are challenging enough for now.

 

Provided it doesn't rain (hah! It's always raining this time of year), I'll get a walk in before lunch. It's just over 80F (27C) at the moment so relatively cool and cloudy. Good walking weather.

[Artemis Prime]

1 hour ago, sylph said:

Weights are slightly laughable at the moment and I'm trying not to care. Mostly succeeding even when I dropped 10 more pounds off of the pulldowns in order to improve lat engagement/MMC.

Dr. Mike Israetel has a whole bunch of videos where he puts advanced athletes through a workout with light (for them) weight and then makes them do slow, full range of motion reps and absolutely destroys them. The weight on the bar is just a number, if you're feeling it in the target muscle, it's a good workout.

[Mad Hatter]

Yay you're here!

 

On 9/4/2024 at 2:28 PM, sylph said:

Note: I respond well to gentle harassment regarding my goals. If an even day passes and I've not posted about working out, I invite you to call me out on that.

On it. ?

[Laghail]

On 9/4/2024 at 7:22 AM, sylph said:

Current workouts are very short, circuit-type lifting sessions that (seriously) are lasting about 20 minutes. Given the temperature and humidity in my garage, this is about all I can handle before feeling like death is imminent. Also, given my state of de-conditioning, it's also serving to get me back into the swing of things. 20 minutes is a lot less daunting than 45 minutes or an hour.

 

I've currently got things divvied up into an A day and a B day and will just swap back and forth between them.

 

A Day:

Squat or variant

OHP or variant

Row or variant

 

B Day:

Deadlift or variant

Bench or variant

Pulldown or variant

 

I'm getting big StrongLifts vibes from your plan and that's not a bad thing. Following!

[sylph]

22 hours ago, Artemis Prime said:

Dr. Mike Israetel has a whole bunch of videos where he puts advanced athletes through a workout with light (for them) weight and then makes them do slow, full range of motion reps and absolutely destroys them. The weight on the bar is just a number, if you're feeling it in the target muscle, it's a good workout.

Yes. And in my very anything-is-better-than-nothing situation in which I'm attempting to just DO the thing, the weight is doubly irrelevant.

 

I have a horrible tendency to compare myself to myself-of-the-past. But only in instances where past self was better. Where current self is now better, I take that for granted as the natural order of things.

Because, I should of course continue to be as good at or better than everything I have ever done in my entire life regardless of whether I've been practicing them consistently overtime. Right? Right?

 

 

20 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

Yay you're here!

 

On it. ?

Glad to have you along

 

 

20 hours ago, Laghail said:

 

I'm getting big StrongLifts vibes from your plan and that's not a bad thing. Following!

Back in my baby bodybuilding days I ran MadCow for a good long while. 5x5 is very mentally different than 3x8 despite the total number of reps being nearly identical.

 

For this, I just picked the 6 basic movements/planes and split them into two groups that mostly didn't interfere with each other and where I could set up an easy super set or giant set in my home gym. Depending on exercise selection, one BB, one DB, and one cable exercise keeps things flowing pretty well--except when I run out of 5 or 10 lb plates and have to shuffle them between the bar and the plate-loaded cable.

 

 

[sylph]

Yesterday I did get a walk in before it got stupid humid and also before the ridiculous amount of rain that started in the afternoon/evening. I had to run out in the downpour and run the hose so I could prevent the pool from overflowing. It rained some more overnight so I will have to do the same  again today at some point.

 

Sprinkler guy is coming this morning to address a faulty sprinkler head as well as a leak that's coming from... somewhere. That should be a big fun time.

 

 

I'm working on a sewing project for hubs with a deadline of the first weekend in October, so I really need to get on that. I'm about 30% through it, but have paused at a fiddly bit so I need to get my mojo going for that again.

 

Also on deck for this weekend: Grocery shopping, laundry, dyeing my hair and whatever else my come up.

[Artemis Prime]

5 minutes ago, sylph said:

Where current self is now better, I take that for granted as the natural order of things.

Nonsense, the natural world tends towards entropy, so self-improvement is the exact opposite of the natural order of things and thus even the smallest steps of improvement are to be celebrated as acts of dominance over the very universe itself!

 

6 minutes ago, sylph said:

except when I run out of 5 or 10 lb plates and have to shuffle them between the bar and the plate-loaded cable.

What I'm hearing is that you need more plates! ?

[sylph]

Yesterday was not a lifting day

I worked, then met the sprinkler guy for what I thought was a leak. Probably not a leak, but some other work needs to be done. TBD.

I also sewed some and got input from hubs to get me past the sticking point. Should be (relatively) smooth sailing from here forward but who knows what gremlins may pop up.

 

Today I sewed a bit in the morning and then headed out to attempt some lawn maintenance, since the forecast said I had a bit of a window (3 hrs) before the rain was supposed to start.

Nope. No sooner had I gotten outside and barely gotten started than it started raining. Welcome to Florida!

It showered off and on intermittently for the next couple hours and I kept on working, dodging under cover when possible, until it started pouring. I'm probably only 40% done with what I was attempting to do (which is only a small part of the overall yard tasks that need to be done) so we'll likely need to get back to it tomorrow.

I gave myself a good 15-20 minutes to revert to a normal human body temperature and then changed into my workout gear and got today's lifts in.

 

It was A Day:

BB Squat

DB OHP

Cable Rows

4/22

 

Superset the first two exercises then did rows all at the end. 20 minutes, minimal rest times. With today's rain and temps just barely below 90F today, the garage was... humid and warm. I didn't push things too hard here since I'd had a couple hours of yard work already and the temp/humidity combo was fairly gross. But, did the thing, so yay me.

 

I'd go jump in the pool despite the rain, but it's started thunder/lightning so instead I'll cool off and then hit the shower.

[Mad Hatter]

On 9/6/2024 at 4:05 PM, sylph said:

Because, I should of course continue to be as good at or better than everything I have ever done in my entire life regardless of whether I've been practicing them consistently overtime. Right? Right?

Of course. At least the skills/strength should have the decency to come back after one or two sessions. I did backbends twice in a month now and somehow I can't touch my heels again and I find that just disrespectful.

 

21 hours ago, sylph said:

It was A Day:

BB Squat

DB OHP

Cable Rows

Nice!

[Laghail]

Following along! 

[Sepherina]

Happy to see you back! Following!

[sylph]

On 9/8/2024 at 2:12 PM, Mad Hatter said:

Of course. At least the skills/strength should have the decency to come back after one or two sessions. I did backbends twice in a month now and somehow I can't touch my heels again and I find that just disrespectful.

 

Exactly.

 

On 9/8/2024 at 9:18 PM, Laghail said:

Following along! 

Welcome!

 

On 9/8/2024 at 9:32 PM, Sepherina said:

Happy to see you back! Following!

Thanks, and welcome!

[sylph]

Sunday

Did a little sewing in the morning and then hubs and I ran around town getting some errands done. The weather is still gross. Very humid. Lots of rain.

 

Monday

Was supposed to be B Day lifting. I did not manage it. Still 4/22

Grocery shopped

Drained off the excess water from the pool due to all the rain,

Did some laundry

A couple more hours of yard maintenance

And then it started pouring.

 

Soggy, sweaty, and covered in dirt, I checked the temp and humidity in the garage--84F and 83% humidity, and actively raining outside. Friends, I just could not do it.

Today is a full day and whatever extra I have will be tackling the yard yet again (pretty sure it's supposed to rain some more). I will attempt to get back on track for tomorrow's workout.

[Artemis Prime]

2 minutes ago, sylph said:

Was supposed to be B Day lifting. I did not manage it. Still 4/22

...

Soggy, sweaty, and covered in dirt, I checked the temp and humidity in the garage--84F and 83% humidity, and actively raining outside. Friends, I just could not do it.

Today is a full day and whatever extra I have will be tackling the yard yet again (pretty sure it's supposed to rain some more). I will attempt to get back on track for tomorrow's workout.

Was thinking about this when I was catching up on forums yesterday and trying to remember if that's say I'm supposed to bug you or not. Trying to find the right tone between accountability and support here. It's understandable that lifting in those conditions did not appeal, and good job coming here and honestly reporting on your status. Things will happen and workouts will be missed. Thursday, though, I fully expect you to report in with a workout, even if it's a quick bodyweight circuit you squeeze in somewhere in the middle of your day.

[sylph]

2 minutes ago, Artemis Prime said:

Was thinking about this when I was catching up on forums yesterday and trying to remember if that's say I'm supposed to bug you or not. Trying to find the right tone between accountability and support here. It's understandable that lifting in those conditions did not appeal, and good job coming here and honestly reporting on your status. Things will happen and workouts will be missed. Thursday, though, I fully expect you to report in with a workout, even if it's a quick bodyweight circuit you squeeze in somewhere in the middle of your day.

Odd days are supposed to be lifting days. Feel free to harass me if I don't report something tomorrow.

 

With my current 'program' you'd think 20 minutes would be easy to find, but somehow it isn't...

Ah well. A 'rest' probably did me good anyway--my shoulder was a little cranky when I went to bed last night from the yard stuff. 

I'm also a little thankful for the rain that's keeping me to short blocks of yard work. Left to my own devices I likely would've tried to crank it out in a single day and then been hobbling about, stiff and sore for a few days afterward.

Given the rate of growth of plants in Florida, I should probably get into the habit of doing a little outdoor maintenance here and there on most days.

[sylph]

B Day workout complete! 5/22

Deadlifts

DB Bench

Lat Pulldowns

Squeaked this in this morning between meetings and whatnot. The garage was only 81F and 76% humidity, so... better? I will be happy when we get a bit more easing for fall. It's starting--highs are in the upper 80s rather than low 90s...

 

Didn't get much of anything done after work yesterday aside from making dinner.

https://www.sixsistersstuff.com/recipe/john-wayne-casserole-beef-and-biscuit-casserole/

This stuff is a perennial favorite, and since there are only two of us, it makes for lots of leftovers.  There's a bit of chopping and prep, so takes awhile, hence my lack of anything else last night, but that does mean no cooking necessary for the next few days.

 

Still have not dyed my hair nor made any more progress on the yard stuff.  I wish I could get out in the yard in the morning before it gets really ridiculous out, but alas, work requires otherwise.

[Artemis Prime]

1 hour ago, sylph said:

B Day workout complete! 5/22

Nice!

[Laghail]

3 hours ago, sylph said:

Didn't get much of anything done after work yesterday aside from making dinner.

 

 

This looks amaze!

[sylph]

31 minutes ago, Laghail said:

 

This looks amaze!

Wow, that comes up GIANT on my laptop ?

 

I use red bell peppers since we are not a green pepper family, and it is soooooo good. The mayo and the sour cream and the cheddar cheese mean that it's nothing close to health food, but it's too tasty to care.

[sylph]

2 hours ago, Artemis Prime said:

Nice!

More than half the motivation was to prevent getting called out here. Peer pressure Public accountability is a thing! heh.