Joining Just in Time for the Challenge!

[Preiselbeer]

Hello fellow rebels! 

 

New ranger here, getting my act together just in time for the new challenge, as it so happens. I've hesitated to join NF before because I was afraid I just wouldn't be able to keep on top of things. Frankly, though, I NEED to keep on top of things, so really, where's the problem? I don't see it. 

 

I'm a first-year PhD student and former college rower. I was always an active kid but always a bit chubby, and never had a ton of physical confidence. I was always pretty nerdy thanks to my Dad, who's always been heavily skewed towards sci-fi and computers. He taught me to play Heroes of Might and Magic when I was 5, and at that point, my barbies were flying the Millennium Falcon around the house. Unclear why some people thought this was strange. In high school, when I discovered rowing--the first sport I was ever just sort of naturally good at (which I'd never thought would be possible), my life completely changed. I'd never thought I'd be a college athlete and suddenly I was a successful one. I also changed by body composition a lot during college and felt really good about myself for the first time.

 

Then, during my year off (and abroad), while I didn't technically gain weight, I did lose muscle (and gain fat). Now I feel like I'm in somebody else's body, and I don't like it one bit. I can't wait to have my old self back, but I also don't have the kind of schedule that I did in college. Now that my first semester of grad school is over and I know a bit more about how I need to structure my life, it's time to stop 'trying' to get to the gym, which I was doing last semester, and start making the gym happen. I have the Rebel Strength Guide, I've got my goals set up for the challenge, and I'm ready to go! 

 

Looking forward to being part of such an awesome community--you guys rock. And if any fellow grad students out there are struggling with making time for a real fitness routine, I'm with you!

[Shukar]

Welcome to Nerd Fitness, we're glad you finally decided to join up. Haven't done grad school myself but I know a number of people who have, it's a big time crunch and many people get lost in it. Congrats for being among the few who made your physical wellbeing important in addition to expanding your mind. 

[Preiselbeer]

Thanks, Shukar! It's definitely tough--all of the other people here I know who are getting to the gym regularly are now at the point where they're done with classes, working on their dissertations, but not yet into dissertation crunch mode. As a first-year, I'm  quite busy, but not as busy as I'm going to be in the next two years between now and the end of classes, so it's tough to not just resign myself to eating well and setting exercise to the side for now. I figure it I set a strong foundation now while it's more possible, then down the road if all I have time for is a quick body weight set a few times a  week, I'll at least have something good to maintain during that period!

[stellalihr]

Hi Preiselbeer!  I'm finishing up my 3rd year toward my PhD, and it sounds like you are exactly where I was when I started.  I played water polo in college, and then pretty much dropped everything once I graduated.  I lost a ton of muscle and gained almost 30lbs- it was horrible.  Fast forward to the present and now I fit back into my old clothes with room to spare, and am healthier than ever.  The key for me was making it a routine- I started logging my food (with a buddy for accountability!), and I would go to the gym with my friend in the afternoons.  When we ran into a reccuring scheduling conflict, we switched to mornings and haven't missed a day since   It's easier than you think to fit it all in!

 

What are you studying?  And where did you go abroad?

[Preiselbeer]

Hi Stellalihr! 

 

It's so nice to hear this from someone! I've really decided that scheduling workouts--physically putting them in my calendar--is the only way to go. Otherwise I just see empty space during the day and I think, "ahh, uninterrupted time to get work done". It was never a problem for me in college to structure my time around practice, but of course this isn't quite the same. Plus there's that whole issue of built-in accountability with a team. 

 

I spent my year in Germany, doing a post-bacc program of sorts and generally pretending to be a student while having the full abroad experience I didn't quite get in college. I had an absolutely wonderful time and, believe or not, didn't spend quite ALL of my time in the biergarten, but wasn't able to connect with the local rowing club (not for lack of trying), and just sort of enjoyed the time off from that daily athletic commitment. Great fun, but ultimately a poor choice Now I'm working on my PhD in Archaeology (Classical/Mediterranean), so at least all the German is coming in handy  

 

What's your field? 

[Shukar]

Ooo an Archaeologist. Don't see to many of those types around since I got my bachelors, far as I went. Anthropology was my chosen field of study, though I'm not doing anything directly with that degree these days. 

[stellalihr]

Scheduling is definitely key.  I'm always surprised at how much easier it is to "find" time when I have more things going on.

 

I'm jealous- I've never been to Germany.  I did just start learning German last year though (mostly so that my officemates and I could sound angrier when we had to yell at the freshmen for messing up the labs...)

 

I'm studying materials science (specifically glass).  Actually, my original plan was to double major (or at least minor) in history, so that I could go into archaeological materials.  I ended up dropping History 101 because it was painfully boring... oh well.  History/archaeology still really interests me though   If you've heard of the lycurgus cup, that's really close to what I'm researching.

[sumdawgtwigg]

Hello fellow ranger! Sci-fi nerds are the best, IMO. I was more likely to fly the enterprise through the house though. lol

 

Good luck with your goals! 

[Shukar]

@Stella, you'd love Prof. Vandiver at the University of Arizona. She was an MSE prof. who was an adjunct in Anthropology. My wife took one of her classes that involved copper smelting, glass blowing, torch work, Faience, and a number of other cool things. I regret not having managed to take that class.

[Preiselbeer]

What great company I'm in! 

 

Sumdawgtwigg: Thank you! If I'd had a version of the Enterprise, that would have definitely been on heavy rotation. What I would have given for a similarly-sized model with a bridge for the action figures. Can't imagine how they'd do one with any relative scale, though...I guess in the MF the figures just took up the whole ship, haha. 

 

Shukar: Fancy that! The kind of archaeology I'm doing/looking to do definitely leans to the archaeological side--we'd be nowhere without you! 

 

Stellalihr: Of course I've heard of the Lycurgus cup! I actually took a ceramic analysis seminar last semester with a visiting post doc who does archaeological science--it was a great time. She got someone to make us some Prince Rupert Drops that we proceeded to take outside and (accidentally) use to shock tour groups. I have a friend here who's in the Engineering program but is doing an MA in my department as well, and she's always off to places like Tennessee or Lucerne to work on things. I'm so glad we have people who are better at lab sciences than I am who are interested in the same types of things and can help with research. I do hear you, though, I loved history as a kid but when I got to college I realized that as an academic discipline, it just wasn't for me. A little too...text-based. I find archaeology has a pretty nice combination