Let's get mighty mighty.

[TheMightyMinotaur]

Well, I'm glad you see it. I have measurements to tell me the difference is there, but I don't really see much of it. The fact that I look at my ugly mug in the mirror every day probably has something to do with that though.

[TheMightyMinotaur]

So, did my workout today. Nothing really special about it, honestly. Ran for 10 minutes and did three full circuits, working on good posture during my squats and keeping everything running from one thing to the next.

[TheMightyMinotaur]

So, this is a super late post, but Friday was crazy busy for me. My workout was 12 minutes on the elliptical and a full 3 circuits again. Push-ups were abnormally difficult, but I managed. My squats and lunges were also difficult, because I did something to my knee on Thursday night, not anything serious, just not very good feeling. My knee is all better now though. 

 

So 2nd week of the challenge completed, Goals 1-3, completed successfully, sidequest not so much. I did the BBWW 3 times last week. I walked 10.4 miles. I had one day 100% paleo, that was Thursday. Unfortunately, I only studied Russian once. However, I learned a bunch in that one lesson. Like how to ask what something is and how to reply to that. Also I am of the opinion that the Russian word for cat sounds much cooler than their word for dog. Just sayin'.

 

So, this weekend was super fun for me. A friend of mine invited a bunch of us out to his family's cabin. We spent the weekend playing board games, swimming, having beach side fires, and boating. It was pretty awesome. Kind of the highlight of my summer, actually. I'll admit, I wasn't super strict on my diet this weekend, which isn't great. But back on track this week and everything's good.

[fadagaski]

I'm jealous of your cabin trip! I miss cottaging. Well done on your workouts! That's really determined with injury.

[minx34]

So, this is a super late post, but Friday was crazy busy for me. My workout was 12 minutes on the elliptical and a full 3 circuits again. Push-ups were abnormally difficult, but I managed. My squats and lunges were also difficult, because I did something to my knee on Thursday night, not anything serious, just not very good feeling. My knee is all better now though. 

 

So 2nd week of the challenge completed, Goals 1-3, completed successfully, sidequest not so much. I did the BBWW 3 times last week. I walked 10.4 miles. I had one day 100% paleo, that was Thursday. Unfortunately, I only studied Russian once. However, I learned a bunch in that one lesson. Like how to ask what something is and how to reply to that. Also I am of the opinion that the Russian word for cat sounds much cooler than their word for dog. Just sayin'.

 

So, this weekend was super fun for me. A friend of mine invited a bunch of us out to his family's cabin. We spent the weekend playing board games, swimming, having beach side fires, and boating. It was pretty awesome. Kind of the highlight of my summer, actually. I'll admit, I wasn't super strict on my diet this weekend, which isn't great. But back on track this week and everything's good.

Yo! Congrats on all of that progress, dude! Its okay to loosen up a bit sometimes. I really admire how detailed and persistent you are. Keep at it! 

[TheMightyMinotaur]

I'm jealous of your cabin trip! I miss cottaging. Well done on your workouts! That's really determined with injury.

 

Well, as I said, I don't really consider it an injury. It just didn't feel great is all. The one that was interesting was this morning, my arms and most of my upper body is still sore from all the tubing on Saturday.

 

Yo! Congrats on all of that progress, dude! Its okay to loosen up a bit sometimes. I really admire how detailed and persistent you are. Keep at it! 

 

Thanks! I really appreciate your support! I'm TheMightyMinotaur for a reason, I can be pretty bullheaded sometimes and this is one of the things I've decided to get stubborn about, so really for me, failing to check in or workout isn't really an option for me. I know that doesn't work for most people, but it does for me.

 

 

Anyways, so for today. I ran for about 12 and a half minutes, I did my full three circuits too. Push-ups were a major pain because I was, as I mentioned, still sore from tubing on the lake on Saturday, I didn't do all of them right, but I tried and that's what counts. Forcing myself to workout this morning was kind of difficult. I was tired, I was still sorta sore, I just didn't feel like doing it, but I made myself and I took my time and I pounded it out. 

 

Also, I don't normally post about my diet here, but I have an addendum for this one. Went out for coffee with a friend. Got a Chai Latte because, Chai is tea, tea is okay, yes has milk, but still not terrible. 450-some calories later, I'm upset at this beverage. Next time I'll stick with my super hipstery non-fat, no whip, carmel, butterscotch latte that isn't great but better for me. Or maybe just get an americano and be done with it.

[minx34]

Got a Chai Latte because, Chai is tea, tea is okay, yes has milk, but still not terrible. 450-some calories later, I'm upset at this beverage. Next time I'll stick with my super hipstery non-fat, no whip, carmel, butterscotch latte that isn't great but better for me. Or maybe just get an americano and be done with it.

Or maybe just get some hot tea I have a low caffeine tolerance, so coffee and pills like Excederine are out for me, but tea works since its low caffeine. And sometimes just the placebo effect of having hot drink works! But if not, hopefully plain coffee will work for you next time.

[rmpage]

Great job on the progress.  Love all the detail.  You may not see the difference but think about whenever you don't see a family member or friend for a while.  You immediately see the differences when they may not be able to.

[TheMightyMinotaur]

So, this morning I ran for 12.5 minutes this morning than did my full 3 circuits. Felt good, even though I managed to get myself pretty dehydrated, managed. Drank like a gallon of water before, during, and after my workout. Went well. 

 

So, spent the evening with a childhood friend, she and I haven't hung out in a long time. Apparently she was tired. Totally asleep on my couch. Sooo...I've been watching Parks and Rec. for like..3 hours.  

[TheMightyMinotaur]

So, ran 11 minutes this morning, then I did my full three workouts. The push-ups and rows were kind of difficult cause I managed to slice my thumb open yesterday while pitting an avocado for my pseudo-paleo dinner last night. It wasn't super paleo, but I did what I could. My meat was hot dogs. No one asked my opinion on dinner, so that's what I had, hot dogs without buns and a whole avocado, really all I ate yesterday.

 

Anyways, so I did my workout and my sets involving my hands were a bit more difficult than normal, but it worked. Push-ups were hard to do, but I managed to do all of them the way I'm supposed to. Quite proud of myself. Everything went pretty well though I lost count a couple times during my squats and planks. But all worked well.

 

Went and celebrated a friends birthday today. Not sure how well I did diet wise. We went to a local teppanyaki restaurant, they brought so much food I had no idea. Soup, salad, rice, sushi, grilled lamb with many vegetables, shrimp. I tried to avoid the thick sauces and it didn't look like the guy was putting too much "bad" stuff into it and they cooked it all right in front of me. But I didn't say no when they brought me ice cream. Drank water, cause I don't do soda anymore. The beer some of my friends ordered would have been tempting, but not like I could really succumb to that temptation because I -can't- order a beer for another 6 months or so. Right.

 

Good day? Yeah, good day.

[TheMightyMinotaur]

So, Yesterday. I have -no- idea why I didn't post in here, I posted everywhere else. I ran 11 minutes, half way through, at around the six minute mark, I upped the resistance on the elliptical. I then did 3 full circuits and I think I'm going to start adding reps to my sets, because I'm starting to plateau a bit and that's not okay.

 

In good news yesterday, I bought a sweatshirt that's a Large. That's two sizes down from where I started. I also had a friend nearly make me cry because of his reply to something I said on Twitter. I posted about it in my challenge thread, but I'll post about it here too. Some of my friends and I went to a restaurant that features a lot of pie, and the pies are delicious, but I decided I shouldn't have any pie because it's not good for me, so I posted about that on twitter.

 

"Going to a pie place and not getting pie. It's the little things. Small victories."

 

My friend Jeremy, a wonderful man, writer, father, and youth minister replies to me:

 

"Not just a small victory." "The human will that gives men the ability to climb mountains works in you to make you eat pie. You beat THAT."

 

So, I had to grit my teeth a bit from making a scene, but... Well, I'm doing all this for me, I really am, but when someone takes the time to notice or say something really encouraging... It means a lot to me.

[TheMightyMinotaur]

So, today I ran for a bit less than I normally would, I ran 8 minutes, but about the halfway point again, I upped the intensity on the elliptical machine, so there's that. I did my full three circuits but I added 2 reps to each set of squats and lunges and I added 2 seconds to each of my planks. So, for the full BBWW, 66 squats, 66 lunges, 1:36 seconds planking.

[TheMightyMinotaur]

So, ran for around 8 minutes this morning, upped the intensity halfway through like I did on Wednesday. Then I moved on to my BBWW, all three circuits with my added reps on squats and lunges. I also implemented a timer so I don't have to count when I do my planks and rounded up to 35 seconds each. Other than all that, not much to report today. I might post again in here today if something awesome happens.

[Nuribaby]

You seem like you're doing really well, congrats!

[TheMightyMinotaur]

Hey, thanks! It's just a lot of boring hard work. I see you're pretty new, Nuribaby, stick with us. We're a pretty cool crowd.

[TheMightyMinotaur]

So, I did my stuff this morning before I really started my busy day. I did my whole run on the higher intensity and I ran for 9 minutes. I did my workout with the additional reps and plank time, but what stood out is my push-ups. Getting much better at those. That's about all for that update.

 

In other news, last week was kind of sad for my challenge, I missed a Russian lesson and I was 3.8 miles short to meet my walking goal. I did get my workouts and my paleo day, but 2/4 is not really passing. Kinda bummed about that.

 

In good news though, I am registered for fall semester, I have my financial aid all set in motion, and I got my books this morning. Related, I'm going to be taking a course offered through the Health and Exercise Studies department on weight training starting in October. Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays I'll be getting to school about 8:00 to lift heavy things for an hour. The rest of my classes start next Tuesday, the 3rd, so that should be interesting. I am getting pretty excited and anxious about it, which is good. I'm ready to get back to school.

 

One more thing. I'm posting at close to 3:00AM on a Tuesday because I worked until 1:30 for the Madden 25 midnight release. So many bros. Sooo many bros.

[TheMightyMinotaur]

I didn't reply yesterday, oops. I ran for about 11 minutes, the whole time on the higher intensity. After the run, I did my three circuits with my additional reps and such. Pretty standard fare. 

 

On the upside, I weighed in this morning and I'm officially down 50 pounds. That's a milestone if I've ever seen one.

[minx34]

On the upside, I weighed in this morning and I'm officially down 50 pounds. That's a milestone if I've ever seen one.

 

Hell yeah that's a milestone! Congrats dude! You're a real inspiration to me I'm only 10 pounds from where I was before (well, according to the scale today), but now I'm trying a lot harder and working out more consistently. I like to read your progress, it inspires me to progress more as well. Keep it up

[TheMightyMinotaur]

I'm glad. You know, today of all days. I worked super early (for me) today and missed my workout and I'm leaving to spend the weekend with my sister at 7 tomorrow morning. I haven't hit a single one of my challenge goals this week. I ever so slightly hate myself for that, but next week. I'm gonna kick next weeks ass so hard it's grandchildren will have a hard time sitting for extended periods of time comfortably.

[TheMightyMinotaur]

So, yesterday went really well, got my full workout in, I listened to the first two tracks off of Macklemore & Ryan Lewis's The Heist while I ran and Can't Hold Us bumped up my speed in order to keep up with the beat, which was fun. Everything else was pretty normal for me.

 

Today though, today was the start of the new semester. My philosophy professor is pretty awesome and so is my creative writing professor, but I'm going to have to find something to do in between classes, one gets done at 9:15 and the next doesn't start until 2:30. More books. I'm also feeling hella inspired by Steve's article today. My Hard Hat Challenge goal is to run for 15 minutes a day. Shouldn't change much on my workout days and just means I can't take as long in the shower on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I wants me that hard hat. I wants it. I needs it.

[TheMightyMinotaur]

So, did my run and pushed for 15 minutes for the Hard Hat Challenge, also did my three circuits. Also also decided today would be this week's paleo day. Total success. Had class this morning, my ancient civ history course and second semester college algebra (failed it last semester, because I didn't do homework, idiot I am). Pretty happy thus far. Spent most of my night doing Philosophy readings and writings. Tomorrow's an early day, so my run will be a bit on the interesting side tomorrow morning, but hey. Should be all good.

[TheMightyMinotaur]

Well, today is one of those days that's good because I'm telling myself it has to be. My workout went great though. 15 minutes again for the hard hat, full 3 circuits, added another 5 seconds to all my planks because they're the most difficult part of my workout and I like doing them.

 

Went and had coffee with a friend, but she wasn't feeling very well so she ended up bailing early and one of my friends had to flake on us because he had to meet with an adviser on campus. So my evening went from hanging out with two of my close friends after coffee to sitting alone in my basement-bedroom playing Battlefield. 

 

My best friend graduated basic training today. He's on his way soon to Monterrey, CA to start his AIT. And I feel awful about it. I'm so proud of him for getting as far as he has, but I know that he's going to be finished and working "in his field" pretty soon. I have at minimum 6 years until then and I feel useless about it. It's days like today that make me feel like it's all useless. I look in the mirror and I know all of this hard work is worth it but I'm not there yet and it kills me. I want to have that so bad. But I'm not there yet. I know it takes time and there's no easy way out but it's getting frustrating. And quite honestly, I started doing all of this to gain the attraction of the fairer sex, but I've been in school for a week now and the only women who have acknowledged my existence are ones I already know. And it gets to you. I know that this is good for me, getting healthy and shedding my excess, and I don't want to revert to my old ways. Double Quarter Pounders with fries and a coke aren't me anymore. I don't do stuff like that. I know that this is all worth it, but I'm struggling with something right now and I don't really know what it is.

 

And I really don't know why I'm dumping all this on you guys.

[TheMightyMinotaur]

Right, so Monday was standard. I was just super busy and neglected to post. My earliest class on mondays is at 11:00AM and my latest class ends at 8:30PM, so... long day. I did do my 15 minutes as per Hard Hat Challenge and I did my full 3 circuits.

 

Today was much the same. 15 mintues running, 3 full circuits. I don't know if I mentioned this but I've extended my planks to 40 seconds each and that is really taking it out of me. I'm hoping once my blubber disappears I have rock hard abs, cause that would be hot. 

 

Y'all are lovely. Don't let anybody tell you otherwise.

[TheMightyMinotaur]

So, I skipped Friday cause I overslept and missed my workout, so I made up for it by working out yesterday, that being, Saturday. I ran for 15 minutes and did my full three circuits. I'm still on 22 squats, 10 push-ups, 22 lunges, 10 rows with each arm, 40 seconds planking, and 30 jumping jacks in each circuit. However, I was talking yesterday with my best friend who is now currently one of Uncle Sam's Army Boys and shall from this point on be refered to by either pronouns or the codename NATO. He gave me some workout pointers he got from Basic and from his input I added two exercises to my circuit and implemented his improvements for my push-ups. 

 

What NATO suggested for my push-ups is to clean up my form. Keep my hands planted about shoulder width and keep my arms against my sides instead of splaying them out when I go down. He also suggested that I look forwards as I do my push-ups and to slow them down to get the most work out of them. It worked. My chest aches in a strip about an inch down from my collar bone running from my arms to the center of my chest. It's kind of cool, considering I haven't gotten all that much long term muscle ache from my BBWW in a while.

 

NATO also suggested I add side bridges and flutter kicks to my workout to "work more of [my] core" which I'm okay with considering I like doing ab workouts. I know a lot of people hate working on their core, but I like it. So if you aren't familar with either, side bridges are like a plank but you lay on your side and prop yourself up on one arm, apparently they work your obliques. Flutter kicks work your lower abs, apparently, and you basically lay on the ground with your hands under your butt and kick like you're swimming. You measure side bridges with time, like planks, and measure flutter kicks with reps. So, it counts one-two-three-one, one-two-three-two, etc. starting with your dominant leg and your downstroke is where you count. I enjoyed these but they're brutal.

 

So, I incorporated those two new exercises into my circuits after my planks. I did 20 seconds on each side for my side bridges and 15 flutters. My stomach hurts today too and it's pretty awesome.

 

Also, you're all awesome. Just letting you know that.

[TheMightyMinotaur]

So, pictures and measurements today. Pictures under the spoiler.

 

 

And here were my old measures

 

As of 07/25/13

 

Weight 239

Neck: 17 in

Chest: 44.5 in

Natural Waist/Stomach: 46 in

Waist/Top of Hips: 43 in

Biceps R|L: 16|16 in

Thighs R|L: 24|24 in

Calves R|L: 17|16.5 in

 

And my new measures, taken this morning.

 

As of 09/16/13

 

Weight 225

Neck: 16 in

Chest: 44 in

Natural Waist/Stomach: 45 in

Waist/Top of Hips: 42 in

Biceps R|L: 14|14 in

Thighs R|L: 22|23 in

Calves R|L: 17|17 in 

 

So. I'm learning how my body is storing my fat. This is ever so slightly irritating because I would absolutely love to be rid of my gut, but apparently it's all coming off my arms and thighs right now. But whatever.

 

So, today I ran 15 minutes and did my full 3 circuits with NATO's additions. Flutter kicks and side bridges are difficult. Side bridges mostly just because I have bad balance. Also doing 30 push-ups when you still hurt from the push-ups you did the last time kinda sucks. Whatever though. 

 

Also I signed up for MyFitnessPal, so if you have/use MyFitnessPal we can be friends on there. Search for TheMightyMinotaur, cause you'll find me.