ixaera keeps on going~

[Jord]

WE WANT THE HP PICS, DON'T LET US DOWN

[ixaera]

HELLO I AM BACK

 

On 2/6/2018 at 6:28 AM, Taddea Zhaan said:

WE WANT THE HP PICS, DON'T LET US DOWN

 

I HEAR YOUR PLEAS, FRIENDS

 

I OBEY

 

Clickies for piccies

(I TRIED to blot out most faces, except my own, and I hopefully succeeded???)

 

https://imgur.com/a/xDlyn

 

My main goals were: Drink butterbeer (succeeded 3x, it's best frozen IMVHO), get a nice souvenir (Ravenclaw sweatshirt obtained + a Hermione wand + a picture of me and Mr Ix dueling), hang out with my friends (great success, except on Wednesday when I was super sick after a huge meal at Toothsome and became a fuddy duddy for the rest of the day)

 

Off to try to forum a bit, figure out where I'm at in my lifting, and figure out my new challenge

[ixaera]

new challenge

 

 

[CourtnieMarie]

WELL DONE! The pics are fantastic- great one of the fire! How long did you have to wait in perfect pic position?? 

[ixaera]

3 hours ago, CourtnieMarie said:

WELL DONE! The pics are fantastic- great one of the fire! How long did you have to wait in perfect pic position?? 

 

Mr Ix took that one, he's more patient than I am! The first time, I wasn't expecting it and I probably jumped about 50 feet. Then later, it's like I forgot and I got surprised AGAIN sigh

[shaar]

Ahahahahahaha I love that first pic, palm trees, "not bad"

 

Holy heck the Toothsome Chocolate Emporium...............

[ixaera]

Beep beep!

 

I'm still alive. TBH, was feeling a bit down in the dumps because you can't do much with a back that insists you rest all the time, and work isn't so much excited about work from home so it's been.... painful. And kind of hard if we're being real.

 

But things are looking up. I got decent rest this weekend, I'm hoping enough to get through the week with at least a good amount LESS pain than last week. (It has been improving, it's just SO SLOW)

 

I had my first session since the second big ouch Friday, and he did a good job. We worked around my back and because it was morning, I was still pain free and got a great upper body workout in. We did incline bench press, pull ups, dips, (both assisted btw), some machine stuff and a shoulder circuit. 

 

Probably going to work out a bench + bodybuilding program for now. (Yes, my back is still that bad. Yes, I'm on meds.)

 

There's always something one can do.

[Urgan]

[shaar]

 

Huh, you really can find anything on the internet.  Also apparently you CAN harness the power of lemons in some kind of creepy electrode manner to make fire.  ..... Hmm.

 

I hope your weekend was mostly pain free! <3

[ixaera]

weekend was restful with minimal back aggravating, so this morning I put in an easy leg day and then realized I forgot my lidocaine patch, so I might be very grumpy later. it didn't bug me much during the workout and even got 15 minutes on the treadmill, but now it's mad because I've been doing stuff that isn't laying down for too long already :/

[CourtnieMarie]

ughhhh i hope you're able to get through the day or work gets it's act together and let's you WFH.

[ixaera]

11 hours ago, CourtnieMarie said:

ughhhh i hope you're able to get through the day or work gets it's act together and let's you WFH.

 

I WAS

IT A MIRACLE

 

 

Not even close to 100%, but there was a lot of improvement over Friday's pain levels, EVEN WITHOUT ANY PAIN KILLERS (besides the Meloxicam, anyway, which is a one-a-day'er)

 

I did this at the gym:

3x10 65 lb barbell front squats (challenging-ish but still on the easy side)

3x20 "55" lb landmine squats (in quotes because it's not really 55 lbs, it's just how I log it because i count the empty t-bar as 45 and I put a 10 lb plate on it)

superset 3x12 40 lbs each of seated leg curls & leg extensions

 

Did NOT go for grueling by any means, because A) first leg day in 2 weeks and B ) wasn't sure what my back would think at any given point

Good choice, in hindsight, too, which means maybe my foresight is improving

 

I will say that muscles felt very odd in my right hip/glute/hamstring area during the last few landmine squats. No pain, just felt like, uh, stuff moving around oddly? A little weakness, too.

 

Then I stopped at the diner for a huge breakfast. A "very veggie" omelet with cheese (yes yes YES), hashbrowns with cheese (mostly cheese, will order plain if I do that again), toast. Chai tea latte at work. Then was too full for any more real food... had a protein brownie around 2 pm. And some lifesavers.

 

Way too many lifesavers. I may still do an actual challenge and just try to cut my lifesaver habit. There's so many ! and they're so free!

 

So now we're on the topic of goal setting, how'd we get here?

 

For now my fitness goals are "don't hurt my back more" and "be smart while doing as much as you can"

 

So that leaves me mainly with FOOD goals. And I could use some improvement for sure since settling into new job territory. I tend to make too many rules though so I'm giving it thought before jumping in.

 

ANNNND my back is saying hi hello let's go get flat so BYE

[Urgan]

11 hours ago, ixaera said:

So that leaves me mainly with FOOD goals. And I could use some improvement for sure since settling into new job territory. I tend to make too many rules though so I'm giving it thought before jumping in.

 

How about getting in some quality noms? You seemed to handle staying in a maintenance-ish macro range okay. 

[ixaera]

21 minutes ago, Urgan said:

 

How about getting in some quality noms? You seemed to handle staying in a maintenance-ish macro range okay. 

 

I like this plan. I think it may involve a bit of meal prep because work snacks vary and don't always have a super quality option (there are always cheetos though)

 

Trying to focus less on "quit stuff" and more on "eat better stuff instead most of the time"

[Urgan]

1 hour ago, ixaera said:

 

I like this plan. I think it may involve a bit of meal prep because work snacks vary and don't always have a super quality option (there are always cheetos though)

 

Trying to focus less on "quit stuff" and more on "eat better stuff instead most of the time"

 

The Eat This, Not That challenge lol. That could work.

[shaar]

1 hour ago, ixaera said:

 

I like this plan. I think it may involve a bit of meal prep because work snacks vary and don't always have a super quality option (there are always cheetos though)

 

Trying to focus less on "quit stuff" and more on "eat better stuff instead most of the time"

 

Awww yeah meal prep.  Worth the time and effort on a Sunday to not have to brain about food for the rest of the week.

 

The cheetos will live on in our hearts~ <3

[ixaera]

9 hours ago, shaar said:

 

Awww yeah meal prep.  Worth the time and effort on a Sunday to not have to brain about food for the rest of the week.

 

The cheetos will live on in our hearts~ <3

 

Near, far, wherever they are~

 

quick rant, then I'm going to try to fit shower and making a new challenge in one evening for the Most Productive Day Ever

 

Spoiler

Just got off the phone with Sister Dear

 

(yes, the same one, if you remember previous sister rants)

Mom blabbed that I hurt my back again, so I got to hear about how HER COP HUSBAND works EVERY DAY or AT LEAST FIVE DAYS and his BACK IS SO BAD and he now never DOES THE DEAD SQUATS because they're SO BAD FOR YOUR BACK

THERE'S SO MUCH WORKOUT TO DO THAT ISN'T THE DEAD SQUATS

I worry about you baby sister doing the dead squats on the instragams I used to work out a lot and never did dead squats and was in such great shape

 

sigh

 

This is yes the same sister who told me I was gonna get all manly (bring it on). Yes she really did say dead squats once but I may have played it up a little bit above. I tried to tell her I haven't done a conventional deadlift since I hurt my back the first time (but I might try sumo soonish), and that trap bar has actually never felt too iffy and is much easier to keep good form on

 

vOv but she's the fitness expert now

 

brb gonna go do dead squats in the shower

 

[CourtnieMarie]

 

Spoiler

arrrrrrrrrrrrrghhhhhhh. incredibly sorry you had to listen to unsolicited advice. DEAD SQUATS lmao

 

the part that really pissed me off was when she said she never did dead squats and was in SUCH GREAT SHAPE. what is a great shape may i ask?! my shape is already great THANKYOUVERYMUCH

 

[Urgan]

First of all, dead squats. Wut. 

Second, round is a shape one can be in without doing "dead squats." I'm not sure what those are, but the previous statement still holds.

Third, she didn't bother to ask what happened so she wasn't even listening to you going into this conversation. You could have tweaked it pulling something out of your locker, f'crying out loud (not that I think you are super fragile, these things just happen, you know?).

Fourth, pulling the "I care about you so much don't do activities that make me uncomfortable" card would work so much better if she gave the half a damn to listen to your story.

 

Just...wow. 

[shaar]

Spoiler

Oh my fucking god I lost it at the DEAD SQUATS

 

YOU SHOULD NEVER DO THE DEAD SQUATS especially on the instagrams

 

jesus hornblower christ

 

Why do people.... why... fhsghdaslfs WORDS I can't even words at this point.  LIVE AND LET LIVE PEOPLE MY WORD.

 

[ixaera]

Spoiler

TELL ME ABOUT IT, ALL Y'ALL

My sister is like 14 years older than me, so she kind of views herself as like Mom Lite, I guess, sort of. The dynamic ends up being where I nod and smile a lot because she's a lot like Mom For Real in that naysaying causes weird shitty drama for no reason (well, no reason I understand). She does NOT want to be lighting that green light on commenting about lifestyle choices because there's a LOT I do not say to her about hers >.>

10 hours ago, Urgan said:

Third, she didn't bother to ask what happened so she wasn't even listening to you going into this conversation.

 

This nails it pretty hard on the head, IMO. The root of all my dysfunction with both sister and mom, really. Both of them are very similar in this regard, where they decide what happened, what's best, and they will not have any of your darned excuses, they're older and must therefore know better and that's that. (Logic and reason are known as "meanness" and "disrespect" to these guys, so nodding and smiling has been my avoidance tactic for MANY a year, the dead squats just being the latest in a pile and only really heating up because it's one of maybe... mayyyybe only one times where I just kept doing whatever the eff I wanted anyway, and then broadcast it on social media as something I happen to be proud of)

 

[Urgan]

Rock on with your bad self.

[Cataleya]

Spoiler

Pfffffffffffffffffffft that entire thing reminds me of so many conversations I've had with friends. Except the dead squats. That's a new one.

 

[ixaera]

Hello I am home again to my battle log!

 

 

I will make new goals this weekend. #pleaselookforwardtoit

[ixaera]

Goals soon, but Friday I did a thing

wherein 3x5 of 130 lb sumo deadlifts were picked up and then put back down again
Heaviest since the Big Ouch, and the first set was a trash fire but the other two went well, which makes me wonder what my warmup is lacking.

 

Then I did 3x prowler pushes at 50 lbs, and superset everything from this point on with a single pullup rep, so I managed 8 total pull ups.

 

Sweat like a pig

(do pigs really sweat that much?)

 

Then a leg circuit on machines for extensions, curls, and calves

Left empty and so tired

 

Ate scrambled eggs, turkey bacon, and fluffy biscuits. Mmm carbohydrates.

Work lunch was tacos so I got shredded chicken and some potatoes, dressed in a bit of queso. The chicken ended up being meh though so I gave up partway through. Had too many snax again, but calories were on point at least. Protein sucked.

 

Footage of my work days:

 

And why not, here's a song?

Spoiler