Because I'm Still Stupid...

LongSlowBurn

Well-known member
Pirate from Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
"My most important classes in college were Kung Fu, Judo, and Beginning Gym Tumbling: those are the classes that taught me how to fly through the air and land on my head without dying."
Thank you @Fremen, @Froud, @HellYeah, @Tileenah, @TheLibrarian, @Nihopaloa and @BetaCorvi ! Now to find a day to break those new boots in. :ss:

Monthly Goals (May)
Weight Lost: 2.5 lbs. Well, that's not as good as last time. The trend line flattened out at the end because my weight spiked three pounds on the last two days. Not sure what that's about.
BF% Lost: 2%. At least that's nice.
BMI Lost: 0.3

June 1st

A new month, a new program and challenge! BTW: A Small Light is a fantastic show. It's on Disney+, so if you have access, I highly recommend it.

Ironbound. After two months of cardio and weight loss, I think I'm ready for a little strength building. Completed Days 1 and 2. Upper body both days, I'm quickly finding that I might need heavier weights, though.

Epic Glutes Challenge. Completed Days 1 and 2. Bridges and Squats, so no Lunges ( :worried: ). The exercise isn't too tough, but the rep count is high enough to keep me feeling the burn.

Express Tone. Completed Days 26 and 27. Wasn't sure about continuing with this one. I'll keep it up when it doesn't cross with Ironbound too badly. Day 26 was an extra round of shoulder work, but I cut the weights down so that I wouldn't hurt myself. Day 27 hit the biceps and back, just like Ironbound did, so I cut the weights down again.

1st
Calories Out: 3,379.
Calories In: 2,553.
Deficit: 826.

2nd
Calories Out: 3,017.
Calories In: 2,774.
Deficit: 243. Whoops. Things just happened. Still to the good, though.
 

LongSlowBurn

Well-known member
Pirate from Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
"My most important classes in college were Kung Fu, Judo, and Beginning Gym Tumbling: those are the classes that taught me how to fly through the air and land on my head without dying."
June 3rd

Saturday. Nothing unusual today. Tried to sleep in, as I was up until nearly 4 am last night somehow, but its near impossible when the sun starts streaming in. Maybe I should try going to sleep earlier... I finally got the second power steering hose mostly installed on my car (working on getting a better hose clamp tomorrow). I was also going to flush the power steering fluid, but I'm pretty sure I flushed it when I shot the fluid out all over the engine and road.

Ironbound. Completed Day 3. Goblet Squats, Forward Lunges, Side Lunges, and Calf Raises. Lunges are rough because I can only do them for so long before active pain starts to kick in. I need to look at some kind of stretching program to work my flexibility up. Calf raises, I doubled the rep count. Goblet squats, I ran at double the weight (two 20 lb dumbbells), and if I'm careful I can avoid knee problems with this one.

Epic Glutes Challenge. Completed Day 3. Bridges and Holds. As always, I have problems remembering the holds. I did two sets of Bridges, two sets of Bridges and holds, then two sets of holds. Not really the same, but the best I've got when I remember the holds half way through.

Express Tone. Completed Day 28. Leg Extensions, Leg Swings, and holds. At 50 per leg, the burn really kicks in near the end. I had to pause a couple times to get my legs to move again.

Walk. For a little bit of extra calorie burn, I walked to the corner store and back. Roughly half a mile there and half a mile back, so only maybe a couple of hundred calories burned, but that was all I had time for. Dinner was on.

Calories Out: 3,173.
Calories In: 2,732.
Deficit: 441. Better than yesterday, but still not on target.
 

LongSlowBurn

Well-known member
Pirate from Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
"My most important classes in college were Kung Fu, Judo, and Beginning Gym Tumbling: those are the classes that taught me how to fly through the air and land on my head without dying."
June 4th

Sunday. No unusal events. Nice boring weekend.

Ironbound. Completed Day 4. Core work. Sit-ups absolutely still require me to throw some dumbbells down and hook my feet. Clearly I need to do more of these, or maybe crunches. Everything else is pretty straightforward.

Epic Glutes Challenge. Completed Day 4. Squats and holds. No problems here.

Express Tone. Completed Day 29. Bicep curls, side bends, shrugs, core twists, and tricep extensions. Kinda worried I'm going to have to buy heavier dumbbells. Those are expensive...

Calories Out: 2,692
Calories In: 2,652.
Deficit: 40. Well. That was close.

June 5th

Monday. I remember when I would check fire extinguishers at the site I'm at and i would burn 4000+ calories doing it. Now I have to struggle to break 3000. I guess this whole fitness thing is working for me.

Ironbound. Completed Day 5. Arnold Presses, Push-Ups, Lateral Raises, and tricep extensions. Push-ups were a killer. I did them at the knees and still ended up going to fatigue instead of the full run on the last two sets. And then tricep extensions, I had trouble finding the right set of weights to make these burn. Maybe 2 15s next time.

Epic Glutes Challenge. Completed Day... I'm going to say skipped, actually. It was bridges and holds. but I'm 98% sure I missed the holds. Eventually, I'll get that down.

Express Tone. Skipped. I'm on the last day, but I just ran out of time today.

Calories Out: 3,137.
Calories In: 2,872.
Deficit: 265. It's tough to adjust to not having the extra calorie burn from walking every night. I'll keep trying.
 

Zeugma

Active member
Alchemist Posts: 38
"And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it."
I like the way you log in here. I wish you good luck. :u:
 

LongSlowBurn

Well-known member
Pirate from Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
"My most important classes in college were Kung Fu, Judo, and Beginning Gym Tumbling: those are the classes that taught me how to fly through the air and land on my head without dying."
Thank you @BlackButler! Sorry about the long read. :ss: And thank you,@Zeugma! I'll try to keep it up, but some days are just less exciting than others.

June 6th

Tuesday. Just another day doing fire extinguishers, but that site is finished now, so yay!

Ironbound. Completed Day 6. Upper body: Bicep Curls, Bent Over Rows, and Farmer's Walk. The Farmer's Walk was the easy one. I did those at double the reps, pretty much for fun. 20s on the biceps and bent over rows, 25s on the Farmer's Walk.

Epic Glutes Challenge. Completed Day 5. Bridges and holds. Actually remembered the holds today, so that's an improvement!

Express Tone. Completed Day 30. Lower body. Almost skipped it agin just because I wasn't looking forward to it, but tis the last day... Finished! :completed:

Calories Out: 3,380.
Calories In: 2,595.
Deficit: 785. Woot! Hit the target finally!

June 7th

Wednesday. Last comfy day at work for the rest of the week. Just a bunch of cleaning before two nights of OT.

Ironbound. Completed Day 7. Lower Body: Squats, Forward Lunges, Backward Lunges with Step Up, and Calf Raises. 20 pounders on the first two, then stepped down to 10s for the reverse lunges. But I figured I would be all hat no cattle if I didn't push it with the Calf Raises. So, I put two fifteens in a backpack and a 25er in each hand for a total of 80 lbs, then knocked out the Raises without a problem.

Epic Glutes Challenge. Completed Day 6. Squats and holds. After Ironbound, this was a bit tougher than I thought. Then I forgot the holds on the first set, and had to do a 20 count hold on set 2. Grrr...

Calories Out: 3,567.
Calories In: 2,971.
Deficit: 596. Aaaaaanndd... I missed it again.
 

LongSlowBurn

Well-known member
Pirate from Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
"My most important classes in college were Kung Fu, Judo, and Beginning Gym Tumbling: those are the classes that taught me how to fly through the air and land on my head without dying."
Thank you, @TheLibrarian, @Froud, @Nihopaloa, @BetaCorvi, @Tileenah, @Wiaaam, and @Fremen! The workout regime for the past two months has been a little brutal for me, timewise. I'm going to dial it back a bit for a while, at least for my end of the night workouts.

June 8th

Thursday. Skipped the OT because I was about to fall asleep at work. Came home instead, played a little bit of a video game, then went to take a half hour nap before workout time and dinner. That nap turned into over nine and a half hours of sleep. Oops. All workouts skipped, and there went my 60 day streak. On the other hand... sleep!

Calories Out: 2,818
Calories In: 2,319.
Deficit: 499. I wasn't expecting that.

June 9th

Friday. Hey! I feel pretty good. Maybe I should try this "sleep" thing more often!

Ironbound. Completed Day 8. Ab Work. I was actually just looking at a massive chart someone did of huge numbers of exercises types that hit each major muscle group. The group I was interested in (Obliquus Abdominus) suggested side planks, so I thought about working out a way to try them. And hey, look! They're on this workout! And yes, I'm pretty clearly weak on that muscle group, since I almost didn't finish the sets. I'd actually say that with the shaking at the end, my form wasn't great and that they shouldn't really count as finished.

Epic Glutes Challenge. Completed Day 7. Bridges and holds. Tried to forget about holds again on one set, so I ended up doing five sets totals.

Calories Out: 3,472.
Calories In: 2,607.
Deficit: 865. Hit it!
 

LongSlowBurn

Well-known member
Pirate from Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
"My most important classes in college were Kung Fu, Judo, and Beginning Gym Tumbling: those are the classes that taught me how to fly through the air and land on my head without dying."
June 10th

Saturday. Weekend is here! So naturally, I went in to work to cover some of that OT, then try my hand at woodworking. It didn't go well.

Ironbound. Completed Day 9. Chest and Triceps. Shoulder press really ached, but the rest went okay.

Epic Glutes Challenge. Completed Days 8 and 9. Gotta double up two days to catch up on the challenge. This one went pretty well.

Calories Out: 3,414
Calories In: 2,819.
Deficit: 595. I'm reading that I should probably cut my deficit goal if I plan on building muscle. Maybe worth looking into.

June 11th

Sunday. Nice chill day. Relax, eat, rest.

Ironbound. Completed Day 10. Back and Biceps. I have to record this one because I went short on the weights. Everything needed to be heavier.

Epic Glutes Challenge. Completed Day... 11. I actually did 10 and 11, but on 10 I forgot the holds again. Guess there's always tomorrow.

Calories Out: 2,435.
Calories In: 2,190.
Deficit: 245. That's not really the cut I was intending.

June 12th

Monday's here, and it's back to work. Miserably hot today, really sapped the energy out, even when working inside. But, I'm through it, so on to the workout.

Ironbound. Completed Day 11. Leg Day. Lunges, I dropped the weights down to 10 pounds. Even then, the joints were really tight. Calf Raises, though, it was 40 pounds in the backpack and 50 pounds in the hands, plus double reps. Felt that one...

Epic Glutes Challenge. Completed Day 10. I was going to get 12 done, but I think it's bed time.

Calories Out: 3,449.
Calories In: 2,716.
Deficit: 733. That's closer.
 

LongSlowBurn

Well-known member
Pirate from Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
"My most important classes in college were Kung Fu, Judo, and Beginning Gym Tumbling: those are the classes that taught me how to fly through the air and land on my head without dying."
June 13th

Tuesday! Everything went swimmingly today until 10 minutes after work. Then I get a call to go and clean up glass because a drug addict threw a rock at a window, punching a hole through double paned glass, spreading shards everywhere, and smashing into someone's leg bad enough to send them to the hospital. I mean... that's a hell of an arm that tweaker's got. If it wasn't for the person in the hospital, I'd be impressed.

Ironbound. Completed Day 12. Ab Work. So this is completed, but because of how timing with laundrey worked out, I had to split the workout into two parts. Still, the jackknives were really, really hard for me, once again pointing out that my obliques are not all they could be. Sit-Ups were also done with my feet hooked and even then were really tough. I really should be adding a core workout on top of everything.

Epic Glutes Challenge. Completed Day 13... twice. Because I forgot the squat holds again. Still one more day to catch up on.

Calories Out: 3,834.
Calories In: 3,229
Deficit: 605. Still to the good.

June 14th

Wednesday. No tweaker leg breaks today. Just a lot of walking around and covering fire extinguishers, plus some light carpentry work.

Ironbound. Completed Day 13. Shoulder, Chest, and Triceps. I almost finished the full sets of push-ups! 6 reps on the last set instead of 8, and I'm doing knee push-ups, but that's an improvement. Triceps, I felt like I could have gone harder, but 25 is my heaviest dumbbell. I'll work something out for next time.

Epic Glutes Challenge. Completed Day 13 and 14. I didn't forget anything this time! :worried:

Calories Out: 3,085
Calories In: 2,982
Deficit: 103
 

LongSlowBurn

Well-known member
Pirate from Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
"My most important classes in college were Kung Fu, Judo, and Beginning Gym Tumbling: those are the classes that taught me how to fly through the air and land on my head without dying."
And yet again, this is why I shouldn't wait so long to check in...

June 15th and 16th

Thursday and Friday. I'm just running down the week until I have a four day weekend. Because of how some things work out, this is m last full 5 day week of work for the month, which gives me anxiety that I'm gonna end June with crunch time. So, I made sure I got all my work done so that I can spend the rest of the month not worrying about cramming all my missed tasks in on the last day. Nice thing though, nothing caused any problems. Just smooth sailing.

Ironbound. Completed Days 14 (Back and Biceps) and 15 (Leg Day). If I remember right, I dialed in the arm work a little better. Shrugs are just impossible for me to make tough, so I settled for doubling the reps and used 25s. A bit tired at the end, but I could have kept going. Maybe next time, I'l load some backpacks up and shrug them by the loading straps. Legs weren't too bad either. My knees gave less trouble this time on the lunges, though I did drop the weight down to 10s. Calf raises, still crazy.

Epic Glutes Challenge. Completed Day 15 and 16. On a roll, nothing forgotten!

Walk. I felt like I needed some extra calorie burn on the 15th, so I took a 45 minute walk on top of the workouts. No troubles, just need a bit more cardio if I can't cut back on the calorie intake. Probably should have done it on Friday, too, but didn't.

Calories Out: 3,774 and 3,152
Calories In: 2,696 and 2,864
Deficit: 1,078 (nice!) and 288 (not nice!)

June 17th

Saturday. Well, there went the smooth sailing. Work calls me in at 8 in the morning because someone set off a motion alarm. Eyeball the site, no bad guys. Easiest OT in the world! After that, I pack up and go for a little drive.

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Cedar Tree Trail in Tillamook State Forest, Oregon. My first real off-road run! For various reasons, I didn't risk the second half of that little drive and instead drove home. And everything was great... until I fell asleep for nearly ten hours without doing my workouts. Yep, the only crashing and burning I did was on my couch.

Calories Out: 2,939
Calories In: Didn't track it. Vacation goodies.
Deficit: Not good.

June 18th

Sunday. Father's Day!

yondu.jpg

Probably shouldn't sleep on that couch... Anyway, I check the weather report and find that my camping trip I'd been planning on needed cancelling since the Southwest Washington coast is going to be socked in with rain and thunder until Tuesday. I could have survived it, but everything I wanted to do involved hiking and campfires. Maybe I'll swing out there for the day tomorrow. In the meanwhile, catch up time.

Ironbound. Completed Days 16 (Ab Work) and 17 (Shoulder, Chest, and Triceps). No problems here, surprisingly. Ab work was straight forward. I had to drop the weight on the shoulder press for the last set. And even the Triceps Extensions were barely completed. Not bad!

Epic Glutes Challenge. Completed Day 17. Bridges with holds. No forgetting again, though it felt easier to remember the holds when I did 34 reps rather than 32 or 30. Weird.

Calories Out: 2,858
Calories In: Didn't track it. Vacation goodies.
Deficit: Not good. But all the goodies are gone.
 

LongSlowBurn

Well-known member
Pirate from Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
"My most important classes in college were Kung Fu, Judo, and Beginning Gym Tumbling: those are the classes that taught me how to fly through the air and land on my head without dying."
June 19th

Monday. Happy Juneteenth! To those not in the US (and probably some in the US as well), Juneteenth is a (now) federal holiday that celebrates the day that the last holdout state of the United States' Civil War was ordered to free all enslaved people, which was on June 19th, 1865.

One hundred years of delay have passed since President Lincoln freed the slaves, yet their heirs, their grandsons, are not fully free. They are not yet freed from the bonds of injustice. They are not yet freed from social and economic oppression. And this Nation, for all its hopes and all its boasts, will not be fully free until all its citizens are free. We preach freedom around the world, and we mean it, and we cherish our freedom here at home, but are we to say to the world, and much more importantly, to each other that this is a land of the free except for the [African Americans]; that we have no second-class citizens except [African Americans]; that we have no class or caste system, no ghettoes, no master race except with respect to [African Americans]? Now the time has come for this Nation to fulfill its promise. The events in Birmingham and elsewhere have so increased the cries for equality that no city or State or legislative body can prudently choose to ignore them.
- John F. Kennedy, President, June 11, 1963​
But on to the workouts!
Morning Workout. New stunt! I'm going to try this thing where I alternate between this workout and one or two others when I get up in the morning. I expect it to fall apart pretty quick, as I really have trouble getting up before I have to throw my clothes on and rush out the door. But we don't improve if we don't try, right? Speaking of which, I did the push-ups full length and only missed the last set by 2 reps! :worried:

Ironbound. Completed Day 18 and 19. Back and Biceps. Weight was good on the bicep curls and bent-over rows. Still working on the form for those rows, but it wasn't bad. Farmer's Walk is a bit of a problem, but next time I'll add the back pack. Leg Day. I was getting pretty sloppy by the end here. Double days of this was a bit much. But this should be the last day before I'm back on schedule.

Epic Glutes Challenge. Completed Day 18 and 19. Squats and holds. I caught my reflection in the TV screen while doing squats, and now I'm wondering if I'm dipping enough on the squat. I don't think so. Bridges and holds. Still not clear if I'm stretching far enough on the bridges, but I was getting pretty wiped by the end of all of this.

All caught up!

Calories Out: 3,143
Calories In: 2,730
Deficit: 413

June 20th

Stuck at home, but I got a few things done that I had been putting off. A little seedling tree that popped up in one of my patio planters? Got it moved to a container. Now I just have to keep it watered and hope it survives the transplant. Also, there's nothing like the smell of soil that's been waterlogged for about a year. I don't recommend it. But that dirt is shifted to a new container, one with a bit of drainage, and will hopefully dry out.

Good Morning! Workout. Completed at Level III. I was starting to break a sweat by the end, so that was okay. I should probably try it with EC next time, less time between sets. It also took too long to do it under normal work day circumstances, at least at level 3.

Ironbound. Completed Day 20. Ack! V-Ups! I did my best, but my core really needs development. Also, the knee-in and twists seemed to stress my coordination. Getting the form down on that one might take a while.

Epic Glutes Challenge. Completed Day 20. Squats and holds. Forgot the hold on the first set, doubled the hold on the second set, then finished strong.

Calories Out: 2,945
Calories In: 2,476.
Deficit: 469. My camping goodies stint made the scale spike upwards by almost 3 pounds. I suspect it's all about salt and water retention, but I'd be happier if I had kept this deficit higher to bring the scale back down.
 
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LongSlowBurn

Well-known member
Pirate from Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
"My most important classes in college were Kung Fu, Judo, and Beginning Gym Tumbling: those are the classes that taught me how to fly through the air and land on my head without dying."
June 21st Through 24th

Second half of the week. I really do mean to do these every day. The last half of this week has just been a mess, mostly due to me getting to sleep way too late in the evening to reasonably get up and do the morning sets. This ends with me crashing at the end of the night, sometimes before I get the evening workout in. I intend to work on my time management. But on to the show...

Cardio & Core Express. This one is definitely going into rotation. Only 3 sets makes it easier to get it done before work, plus its full body, hitting the core like I want. I'l lhave to look for more like this, given how little time I seem to leave myself in the morning.

Good Morning! Workout. Completed at Level 1, minus 1 set. I just ran out of time before I had to race off to work.

Morning Workout. Did this one on Saturday for sure. Completed all three sets, with push-ups on knees for the second two sets.

Ironbound. Completed Days 21 and 22. Missed one day due to being too tired to workout at the end of the day. Missed a second day out of bad planning, since it was Saturday.

Epic Glutes Challenge. Completed Day 21, 22 and 23. Missed one day due of bad planning.

Calories Out: 12,395
Calories In: 10,326
Deficit: 2,069, which translates to 517.25 average per day. I'm not really sure how accurate this is, but the scale budged this morning, so I'll take it.
 

LongSlowBurn

Well-known member
Pirate from Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
"My most important classes in college were Kung Fu, Judo, and Beginning Gym Tumbling: those are the classes that taught me how to fly through the air and land on my head without dying."
June 25th

Sunday. I spent most of the day flitting around, getting everything ready for tomorrow. I think I also spent a good portion of the day not wearing my tracker, so I'm reading fewer calories burned than I actually did. Or maybe that was Saturday. I don't remember now. Also, I found out I lost my bike lock sometime in the last few weeks. Annoying, but better than losing my bike.

Ironbound. Completed Day 23. Leg Day. I was planning on doing day 24 as well, but even doing bridges after this workout left me shaking. Don't know why, but I'm just out of energy to keep on going today. Good news, though, my lunges are finally getting down to where my knee touches my workout pad! Also I'm back up to 15s with the lunges, too. Progress!

Epic Glutes Challenge. Completed Day 24 and 25. Squats, then Bridges. Those last few bridges were a real killer. I think I'm done for the day.

Calories Out: 2,556
Calories In: 1,954
Deficit: 602. Not bad for a Sunday.

June 26th

Monday. I was supposed to have the whole day off, partly for relaxation and partly for a dentist appointment. Because a completely unrelated department of my work dropped the ball, I had to go in for the first half of the day and track down where 25 folding tables disappeared to. I had to do that today because everyone connected to the last place those tables were known to have been took Friday off or had already left by the time I showed up. So, I spend some time tracking said tables down, find them, load them all in a massive truck, and take them to another job site. I have to unload them and try to get them to the sixth story of a building that doesn't have a real cargo elevator. Pushing two big carts loaded with tables was about the only spot I had help on, but I ended up leaving them on the first floor. Fortunately, I don't have to have them upstairs until tomorrow afternoon. And I had a dentist appointment to get to. Which got cancelled because the hygenist called in sick. Well, since shoving big metal carts with poorly designed wheels and handles and loaded with ten to fifteen 2 meter long tables each mde me a little tired, I went home and collapsed. Let's just say I'm not super happy with that other division at the moment. More table pushing and setting up to come tomorrow. On to the workouts!

Ironbound. Completed Day 24. Ab Work. The Plank Leg Raises to start nearly did me in. My knees were not happy with the stress. THen the Up and Down Planks tried to do me in as well, since my arms already had a bit of a workout today. Fortunately, the basic and side planks weren't that bad.

Epic Glutes Challenge. Completed Day 26. Squats. As I write this, I realize that I missed the Holds. Take a moment... and there's a forty count squat hold. Done.

Calories Out: 3,139
Calories In: 2,842
Deficit: 297. Not good for a Monday. Naps will do that.
 

LongSlowBurn

Well-known member
Pirate from Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
"My most important classes in college were Kung Fu, Judo, and Beginning Gym Tumbling: those are the classes that taught me how to fly through the air and land on my head without dying."
June 27th

Tuesday. The group that needed the folding tables from Monday didn't use them because yet another group occupied the space they were to be set up in. Monday was about 75% wasted, with 25% to the good because at least now I'm getting the tables back to where they are supposed to be.

Ironbound. Completed Day 25. Shoulder, Chest, and Triceps. Shoulder Presses at 20 lbs until the last set, where I had to drop to 15s. Chest Presses at 15. Lateral Raises at 10, feel like I could have done a set or two at 15. Forward Raises at 15, except for the first set where I underestimated the weight and used 10s.

Epic Glutes Challenge. Completed Day 27. Bridges. Once again, missed the holds, so I did a 40 second hold at the end. And then wasn't sure my form was right, so I did another 40 second hold.

Calories Out: 3,508.
Calories In: 3,101.
Deficit: 407.
 
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LongSlowBurn

Well-known member
Pirate from Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
"My most important classes in college were Kung Fu, Judo, and Beginning Gym Tumbling: those are the classes that taught me how to fly through the air and land on my head without dying."
June 28th

Wednesday. Tables secured! And I got to learn what a pain pressure washer fittings can be! But that piece of equipment is up and running.

Cardio & Core Express. Completed with EC. I'm thinking about doing this with more Knees-to-Elbows, just to increase the burn on the core.

Ironbound. Completed Day 26. Back and Biceps. Alt Biceps Curns at 20 lbs. Upright rows started at 20 lbs, then shifted to 25s when I found that too easy. Deadlifts at 25. Shrugs at 25 lbs with double the reps. Bent Over Rows at I think 20 lbs. Bent Over Flys I had to alternate between 10 lbs and 5 lbs. I could do 10 lbs, but not to full extension. I could do full extension at 5 lbs, but there was just no burn in the muscle. It's starting to occur to me how much missing days is messing me up, too long between hitting muscle groups means losing my gains.

Epic Glutes Challenge. Completed Day 28. Squats and holds. I think I forgot the second set of holds, so I did 20 seconds on the third set. Otherwise, all done.

Calories Out: 3,602
Calories In: 3,415. Was angry coming home over some personal interactions at work and went for the comfort food. That was a lot of carbs.
Deficit: 187. Still to the positive.
 

LongSlowBurn

Well-known member
Pirate from Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
"My most important classes in college were Kung Fu, Judo, and Beginning Gym Tumbling: those are the classes that taught me how to fly through the air and land on my head without dying."
June 29th

Thursday. Once again, I don't remember much about this day. in fact, I'm curious, I'll check my time sheet... Oh, yeah! I plugged a few holes in my records regarding a mold infestation and covered for a custodian! Yeah, that's why I don't remember that day. ;) Edit: as I'm filling out Saturday, I now remember I went to a short Backpacking Basics class on Thursday. Lots of bits of info, including why I'm not able to fit my sleeping bag in my backpack.

Ironbound. Completed Day 27. Leg Day. Goblet squats with a 25 lb. Looking at it, it says "squats", but uses the graphic for "goblet squats". Huh. Forward Lunges with 10s. Single Leg Deadlifts with... 20s, I think. I was pretty wobbly. Calf raises, I just used the 25s, then did no rest between sets.

Epic Glutes Challenge. Completed Day 29. Bridges and holds. Missed the holds on the first set, picked it up on the second set.

Calories Out: 3,254
Calories In: 2,697
Deficit: 557. Not bad!

June 30th

Friday. Camping trip! I say "camping trip", but really I'm just going to a very nearby state park and staying overnight, partly to test out my new tent and backpack and also partly because this is the only day I could get a reservation. Oh, and the new tent arrived by mail about three hours before I headed out, so I guess it's trial by fire time. Work was work, but I was out early due to the mess up at the start of the week. That gave me time to get my workouts in before heading out.

Ironbound. Completed Day 28. Ab work. Sit-ups, sitting twists, leg raises, and side jackknives. I saw an addon program I was thinking about doing next month which mentioned that leg circles should be done in opposite directions each circle, which I've never done. I was probably thinking about that when I did leg circles instead of raises. Also, Jackknives are cool. I'm looking to work more on by obliques.

Epic Glutes Challenge. Completed Day 30. Squats and holds. Done, and no mess-ups this time! :completed:

Calories Out: 3,278
Calories In: 3,176
Deficit: 102. I cooked hot dogs over a campfire!
20230630_231527.jpg
One went into the fire, but oh well... Probably should have skipped the bag of chips after the hot dogs, but I'm still the positive on that calorie count!

July 1st

Saturday. Man, that campsite dirt was packed rock solid, but that's the only negative thing I have to say about the park. My nice new tent worked out. A few oddities with the design, and I think the crew at REI really had a thing for loops and toggles these last couple of years. The backpack was less of a success, but that was due to my sleeping bag rather than the pack. My sleeping bag uses a synthetic fill, rather than down. It turns out that synthetic fill may last a lot longer, but it's really, really hard to compress. Even with a compression stuff stack, you'll probably crank that down to taking up 15 liters, as opposed to 6 or 7 liters for a down bag. The more you know!

Hike. A minor change to my new backpack over the one I had previously is that the top disconnects and turns into a summit or small day pack. Technically my last pack did the same thing, but the straps were a nightmare to work with. The new one, though? Golden. The park I went to is centered around a volcanic crater lake and is surrounded by thick forest. There are a few trails that circle the park, so I grabbed my new minipack and went around one. Only a mile and a half, but it was up and down and provided a few benches along the way where you could sit and enjoy the view.
20230701_104846.jpg
I'm not kidding when I say there's a lot of trees. :LOL: The bench faces the lake, so I'm sure this is overgrowth that they haven't gotten around to cutting back over the years. Maybe I'll send them a suggestion. Anyway, 1.5 miles, and about 300 calories burned.

Ironbound. Completed Day 29. Shoulders, Chest, and Triceps. Did this after I got home and man, it did not go well. Arnold Press at 20s on the first set, then dropped to 15s for the rest. Push-ups were knee pushups the whole time, with to failure on the last two sets. Lateral Raises were at 10s, and that went well. I feel I could have tried 15s. Tricep extensions were with 15s and I almost dropped to 10s. All through it, my triceps were about to give out. Which is weird, because I don't remember working them that hard today at all.

I was going to start Epic Core Challenge, but my triceps were not going to do the up and down planks at all. I'll hold off on this until I start Fireheart on Monday.

Calories Out: 3,411
Calories In: 2,987.
Deficit: 424. The last of the camping goodies are gone now, and I'm still to the positive.
 

LongSlowBurn

Well-known member
Pirate from Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
"My most important classes in college were Kung Fu, Judo, and Beginning Gym Tumbling: those are the classes that taught me how to fly through the air and land on my head without dying."
Thank you @BetaCorvi, @Fremen, @Tileenah, and @Nihopaloa!

July 2nd

Sunday. Mostly a day spent lounging around. That'll hurt when it comes time for calories later.

Morning Workout. Stalled a bit doing this, but got out there eventually and got it done. I think I did the push ups at the knees, but I might be thinking of another day. Still feeling those triceps...

Ironbound. Completed Day 30. Back and Biceps. Biceps Curls at 20 lbs, dropped to 15s on the third set. Bent Over Rows at 20 lbs, probably could have done 25s. Farmer's Walk at 25s, but doubled the steps per set. And that's all she wrote!
:completed:

Calories Out: 2,949
Calories In: 3000
Deficit: -51. Crap.

July 3rd

Monday. My apartment complex sent in contractors to do a water repair of some kind, shutting down water for about 10 minutes sometime during a 2 hour window. No idea when that was going to take place, so it sounded like a great time to go to the theaters and watch Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Don't let the Youtubers and the bad box office scare you. This is a proper Indiana Jones adventure, especially when the third act hits. Other than that, it's time to start some new challenges!

Good Morning! Workout. Completed at Level 3. Thought about stopping early, but I realized I had all day thanks to the glory of Paid Time Off.

Fireheart. Completed Day 1 at Level III. I did this one a while back, in the old Hive days. I remember getting pretty good results out of it, so I thought I would try it again. Plus I'd like to have full body workouts everyday. That way, if I miss a day, I don't feel like I'm losing my gains. My front kicks and knee strikes are pretty weak, especially on the left side. I think I noticed a difference in my shoulders on the left side during Ironborn as well. Maybe I should throw in some weight training or extra stretching on that left side in boost it up.

Epic Core Challenge. Completed Day 1. Thankfully, my triceps are working again.

Calories Out: 2,975
Calories In: 2,341
Deficit: 634. Hey! That's pretty close!
 

LongSlowBurn

Well-known member
Pirate from Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
"My most important classes in college were Kung Fu, Judo, and Beginning Gym Tumbling: those are the classes that taught me how to fly through the air and land on my head without dying."
Thank you, @Fremen, @Tileenah, @astro_rae, @Nihopaloa, @BetaCorvi, and @Mamatigerj!

And yeah, @Nihopaloa, Harrison Ford is getting pretty old, and it shows in some scenes. They actually split it so that some scenes are set in the 1940s, but most of it is in 1969. He plays the 1969 scenes as a really tough old guy on the edge of retirement, so it's not too unbelievable. The scenes from the '40s, I assume they're doing what they did with Mark Hamill in The Mandalorian: use a body double of the young version, digitally add the young version's face, then use voice overs. They actually make it look really good.

July 4th

Tuesday. The Fourth of July! If you're in the US, step out on your porch and listen as everyone in a five mile radius sets off enough explosives to make Russia jealous. I, on the other hand, don't like loud noises, so I watched Spider-Man (2008) with two terrified kitties. Since I had a family get together, I would up not getting the night portion of my workout done. I hit the morning one, though!

Cardio & Core Express. Completed with EC. I'm thinking about doing this with more Knees-to-Elbows, just to increase the burn on the core.

Calories Out: 2,532
Calories In: Didn't track.
Deficit: N/A, but it wasn't good.

July 5th

Wednesday. Gosh, it's hot out. Work was pretty straightforward, but I couldn't keep completely out of the heat. I got up too late to do the morning workout, but I got the night one done!

Fireheart. Completed Day 2 at Level III. I don't know if it was 60 Days of Walking, but I just don't feel like I'm getting the cardio burn out of this that I remember getting. Anyway, left leg, arm, and core still seem weak. Not surprising, but it's there. Push ups, I did a mix of knees and full length. No rhyme or reason, I just did a mix.

Epic Core Challenge. Completed Day 2. Twists. I should have used a weight.

Calories Out: 3,098
Calories In: 2,994
Deficit: 104. Things need to change.
 

GentleOx

Well-known member
Warrior from Hong Kong
Posts: 708
"So sleepy!"
Glad you had a Happy 4th! I've heard stories about the notorious amounts of fireworks set off on that holiday.

I've been in Macau during a certain holiday, where setting off firecrackers is legal. Absolutely bizarre to be walking down the street and hear what sounds like gunfire going off all around you. Closest parallel to the 4th that I can think of.
 

LongSlowBurn

Well-known member
Pirate from Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
"My most important classes in college were Kung Fu, Judo, and Beginning Gym Tumbling: those are the classes that taught me how to fly through the air and land on my head without dying."
@GentleOx, I know, right? A bunch of years back, I worked a job that kept me in until 11 at night, including on the 4th. Stepping out of the store, there was what looked like a pretty decent fog in the parking lot. Except it wasn't fog. It was the sulfur smoke from all the fireworks shot off in the nearby neighborhood. It gets absolutely insane over here!

July 6th

Thursday. Still hot out in the afternoon, but not almost 100 F / 40 C hot. August is still to come, though. Work was so unremarkable, I needed extra calorie burn at the end of the day. I gotta find more physical tasks to do.

Walk. I needed the extra calories burned if I hoped to make it through close to target. Plus, I needed to pick up a couple of things from the grocery store, so off I walk! 1.61 miles walked, 318 calories burned, 40 minute duration (I must have lingered around the store a bit).

Fireheart. Completed Day 3 at Level I. Ab work with punches. The good news is that I was able to do the sit-ups without the dumbbells holding my feet down. The bad news is that my feet still came off the ground. Not very much though. And I was only able to do the three sets without needing to cheat. Getting better, though!

Epic Core Challenge. Completed Day 3. Up Down Planks and Holds. This is going to be the rough one this challenge...

Calories Out: 3,261
Calories In: 2,742
Deficit: 519. Not the worst. That's coming soon, though.

July 7th

Friday. Hot in the afternoon again. Work was unremarkable except for the one carpet clean I had to take care of. I do not recommend going to jail. Even if you're a decent enough bloke, at least one other person won't be.

Fireheart. Completed Day 4 at Level III. Kicks and jabs. Side kicks seem to be tough for me. I can't quite get my back leg to twist to hold myself forward. I seem to remember from judo and kung fu classes in college that kicks should be aimed at the opponent's legs, not their chests or abdomens. The further you take your leg off the ground, the worse off your balance will be. Maybe some more practice will help.

Epic Core Challenge. Completed Day 4. Twists. Used weights. Yay!

Calories Out: 2,983. Check my records... yep, this is the day I took a 2 and half hour nap after getting home from work. Lack of activity keeps those out numbers down.
Calories In: 3,095
Deficit: -112

July 8th

Saturday. Most of my non-screen-staring time today was spent doing a ridiculous amount of laundry, plus eventually getting out and washing my Jeep. Oddly, this kept me up and active for several hours and I burned more calories than normal. Yay!

Morning Workout. Got this done before breakfast, which was nice. Push-ups were tough, but getting better.

Fireheart. Completed Day 5 at Level III. Push-ups, planks, and fists. Oh... this is not going to be fun when Epic Core comes around...

Epic Core Challenge. Completed Day 5. Up Down Planks and Holds. Almost wasn't going to try this after the pushups in Fireheart, and I think I did knee planks on the first rep, but decided no, I'm gonna go. Task complete!

Calories Out: 3,426
Calories In: 2,552
Deficit: 874. :worried:

July 9th

Sunday. Most of my non-screen-staring time today was spent trying to weigh the items in my backpacking rig. I have my first overnight trip planned for August and want to make sure I'll be able to survive the walk. Recommendations are that the backpack not weigh more than 20% of one's body weight. That puts it at 36 pounds / 16.3 kg for me. First try... 46 pounds / 20.8 kg and I haven't added food in yet. Crud...

Walk. Needed a few more calories again, to consume and to burn. Funny thing, I thought I didn't press the "Exercise" button on my Fitbit for this. It must hae auto-measured, which is a nice feature. Duration 43 minutes, Distance not measured (part of the auto thing), 346 calories burned. For added fun and because I'm starting to wonder about my ability to walk 4 miles in a 40 lb backpack, I put a five and a ten pound dumbbell in my backpack for some extra burn.

Fireheart. Completed Day 6 at Level III. Leg raises and side planks. I like getting the side planks. Working on my obliques is one of my many goals. Breezed through, no problems.

Epic Core Challenge. Completed Day 6. Twists, up to 14 and done with a 25 lb dumbbell. Almost didn't finish with that weight, but I got it done.

Calories Out: 2,809
Calories In: 1,972
Deficit: 837. :worried:, but I can hardly get how people get by on 1500 or less calories! They just come up out of nowhere. And by nowhere, I mean the candy racks next to the grocery store check-out lane.
 

LongSlowBurn

Well-known member
Pirate from Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
"My most important classes in college were Kung Fu, Judo, and Beginning Gym Tumbling: those are the classes that taught me how to fly through the air and land on my head without dying."
July 10th

Monday. There's nothing like getting to work and finding out you trusted the wrong person to communicate. It's not a major betrayal, they may have just forgot to say "hey, I offered to set this up this since he didn't know where we wanted it." But since they didn't say it, I and, by extension, my entire department look like lazy turds. So I got to spend a chunk of my day working out the details of that. But hey, that's what endorphins from workouts are for.

Fireheart. Completed Day 7 at Level III. Kicks, lunges, and punches. My kicks remain sloppy. I'm trying to slow the motion down, both for additional strength building and better form.

Epic Core Challenge. Completed Day 7. Up and Down Planks. That was rough, but not too bad. Fireheart wasn't too stressful on the abs and triceps, so this was still doable.

Calories Out: 3,385
Calories In: 2,595
Deficit: 790

July 11th

Tuesday. Mostly finishing cleaning up my messes today, followed by emergency calls. Don't let the bed bugs bite... Oh, and I found a trick extra weight in my backpacking rig. After trimming and getting rid of the mystery second sleeping bag, I'm down to 37 pounds now. A pound or two off more and I should be good to go!

Fireheart. Completed Day 8 at Level II. Punches and ab work for the most part here. Made it through the fourth set, but my abs were tightening up pretty hard by that point, as well as my arms shaking on the push. I'm looking at adding additional tendon workouts to help build strength faster, but my confidence is low with that.

Epic Core Challenge. Completed Day 8. Twists. Used a 20 lb dumbbell. Yay!

Calories Out: 3,253
Calories In: 2,727
Deficit: 526. Low, but still good.
 

LongSlowBurn

Well-known member
Pirate from Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
"My most important classes in college were Kung Fu, Judo, and Beginning Gym Tumbling: those are the classes that taught me how to fly through the air and land on my head without dying."
July 12th

Wednesday. Got to do some fire extinguisher checks today. That equals a lot more steps than when I'm not doing them, as I have to walk through all the main areas of, say, a three story building. And more steps means more calories burned. I also had to do another meeting setup which, since the group previous occupied the room for longer than one would hope, meant I got three-quarters of a hour of overtime. Every little bit helps!

Fireheart. Completed Day 9 at Level II. Core work. I managed to do Level II this time before I wasn't able to do the situps with good form. Also, the crunch kicks and v-extensions were a bit new. I don't remember them from last time. Always good to do something different.

Epic Core Challenge. Completed Day 9. Up Down Planks and Holds. It's nice to not be forgetting the holds. It wasn't as tough as last time, but my arms were just about done at the end. So...

Upper Body Tendon Strength Workout. Completed with EC... sort of. I kept my arms up the whole time, but I had to cut the 60 second elements to 30 seconds. I'm just not quite there yet. But in my defense, my hands and fingers are shaking as I type this, so I'm pretty sure I did enough. Definitely time for some protein.

:tired:

Calories Out: 3,225
Calories In: 2,601
Deficit: 624
 

Juan Martin

Member
from California
Pronouns: he, him
Posts: 6
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LongSlowBurn

Well-known member
Pirate from Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
"My most important classes in college were Kung Fu, Judo, and Beginning Gym Tumbling: those are the classes that taught me how to fly through the air and land on my head without dying."
Thank you @Juan Martin !

July 13th

Thursday. Rumors swirling at work of a pay adjustment upwards. I'll believe it when I see it.

Fireheart. Completed Day 10 at Level... I think II. My form on the combos and knee strikes wasn't doing well. Kicks, knees, and strikes. My left knee strike is still weak beyond belief. Another twenty days to get it in shape. Side Kicks are pretty good, though.

Epic Core Challenge. Completed Day 10. Twists with a 20 lb dumbbell. All good.

Lowerbody Tendon Strength Workout. Completed. Both this workout and the last tendon workout did three groups of exercise for one particular body part. The last one did 30 seconds on one exercise, then 60, then 30 again. This one, though, did 20 seconds across the board. I found that a lot more doable than 30-60-30. Clearly my upper body has a ways to go.

Calories Out: 3,331
Calories In: 2,883
Deficit: 448

July 14th

Friday. I got to test for mold today! That doesn't sound like great fun, but I got to fiddle with petri dishes for the first time since bio class in college. Its the little things, like mold spores, that brighten up one's day!

Fireheart. Completed Day 11 at Level III. Push-ups, strikes, shoulder taps, and plank rotations. I almost stopped at Level II, but I only had 1 set to go. So... finished.

Epic Core Challenge. Completed Day 11. Up Down Planks and Holds. Surprised I made it through this, given the push ups from Fireheart, but I made it!

Upper Body Tendon Strength Plus Workout. Completed. Strikes, curls, and holds. This was easier than the previous one. Kind of surprising, given that the other was Difficulty 2 and this was Difficulty 3. I should probably stick with the tougher workout.

Calories Out: 3,277
Calories In: 3,157
Deficit: 120. Still to the positive.

July 15th

Saturday. Had to go in to work to take care of a carpet cleaning. The location was too close to some important folks who don't like Rug Doctors running just outside their workspace, so looks like it's an after hours gig. And it was kind of nice, as it gave me a chance to dodge the heat of the day in an air conditioned building.

Fireheart. Completed Day 12 at Level III. Bridges and Side Planks. Probably should have doubled up on the reps.

Epic Core Challenge. Completed Day 12. Twists with a 20 lb dumbbell. I should up to 25...

Walk. Bad choices at the grocery store leads one to needing more calories burned at the end of the night. Still kinda surprised by how I'm not burning as many calories doing this as I used to.
Distance: 3.55 miles.
Duration: 1 hr 8 min.

Calories Out: 3,475.
Calories In: 3,601
Deficit: -126. Oops. Could have used a second walk. But not in this heat.
 

LongSlowBurn

Well-known member
Pirate from Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
"My most important classes in college were Kung Fu, Judo, and Beginning Gym Tumbling: those are the classes that taught me how to fly through the air and land on my head without dying."
Thanks, @HellYeah ! But... "I'm doing great!" is like saying "Nothing can stop me now!" :sad:

Sunday, July 16th

Fireheart. Completed Day 13 at Level III. Side kicks, strikes, and combos. My combos get pretty sloppy by the end, but I finished them.

Epic Core Challenge. Completed Day 13. Up and down planks. Alternating the "push up" arm is difficult. I just automatically use my right arm, or lift with the left then lower with the right. Something to practice.

I think I did a third workout today, but I don't recall now.

Calories Out: 3,030
Calories In: 2,342
Deficit: 688. Nice!

Monday, July 17th

Is that mold in that petri dish? Not sure... we'll see tomorrow.

Fireheart. Completed Day 14 at Level III. Push-ups, strikes, shoulder taps, and plank rotations. I get the feeling I'm doing the shoulder taps too quick.

Epic Core Challenge. Completed Day 14. Twists with a 20 pound weight.

Upper Body Tendon Strength Workout. Completed, at full length time this time!

Calories Out: 3,071
Calories In: 3,119
Deficit: -48. I developed a craving at work for saltine crackers, so I ran out and bought a box on the way home. Half a pound of saltines later...

Tuesday, July 18th

Yep. That's mold. Only one spot, though. I'll give it another day to see if any more grows.

Fireheart. Completed Day 15 at Level III. Push-ups, strikes, shoulder taps, and plank rotations. I almost stopped at Level II, but I only had 1 set to go. So... finished.

Epic Core Challenge. Completed Day 15. Up Down Planks and Holds. No problems.

Lowerbody Tendon Strength Workout. Completed. Easy peasy!

Calories Out: 3,081
Calories In: 3,649
Deficit: -568. Well... good news. The saltines are gone now.

Wednesday, July 19th

Still only the one spot in two petri dishes. Probably not worth calling in a company to clean the room. Maybe I can get the janitors to do a deep clean of that room this weekend.

Fireheart. Completed Day 16 at Level II. Front kicks, twist kicks, jab and cross, and combos. Only finished at Level II because those combos were getting really sloppy.

Epic Core Challenge. Completed Day 16. Twists with a 20 lb weight. No problems.

Upper Body Tendon Strength Workout. Completed, though with breaks between the three sets. No shaking in the hands this time, either.

Calories Out: 3,129
Calories In: 2,744
Deficit: 385. Besides no saltines, I also skipped my usual morning bag of chips to help with the deficit (unneeded fat, carbs, and salt, right?). Then I messed up by buying a candy bar and some fast foor later in the day, probably from the extra hunger while working. Still, I came out to the positive, so that's a step in the right direction!
 

LongSlowBurn

Well-known member
Pirate from Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
"My most important classes in college were Kung Fu, Judo, and Beginning Gym Tumbling: those are the classes that taught me how to fly through the air and land on my head without dying."
Thursday, July 20th

Okay, I've passed the buck on the mold job to the janitors, everything should be fine. Oh what's that? There's mold on the ceiling at a different building? Well... I guess this is going to be an ongoing thing.

Fireheart. Completed Day 17 at Level III. Push-ups, jab/cross, and strikes. Once again, I almost stopped at Level II, but I only had 1 set to go. How can I not do just one more set?

Epic Core Challenge. Completed Day 17. Up Down Planks and Holds. And I'm up to 10 Up-Down planks. I've got to try testing myself on Push-Ups after this, see how many reps I can crank out!

Calories Out: 3,414
Calories In: 3,033
Deficit: 381.

Friday, July 21st

Today... today was rough. Not even really sure why. It was mostly just driving and dealing with traffic, something that's naturally stressful for me. Mold killing was fun, but still less than satisfying. I needed to get someone else involved, which is never a good time for me. Whatever the other thing I dealt with wasn't very memorable, but it's done now. However, the stress broke me down and made me go for the comfort food: this time hot dogs. Urg.

Walk. I fell asleep for too long and woke up with a huge calorie problem. Since the programs and challenges won't get the kind of burn I need, I took off at 10:40 at night and walked the giant loop. Great times at night, where you get randos hanging out of car windows and making ape noises. I also got to see a guy take the first couple of steps to run across a three lane freeway and immediately realize what a stupid idea that was. Screaming horns and that guy jumped right back over the concrete divider where he belonged. Fun times in the small city!
Distance: 3.93 miles
Duration: 1 hr, 17 minutes. I called it at 11:59, then reset the clock for the rest of the walk home to count for tomorrow.

Calories Out: 3,163
Calories In: 3,235
Deficit: -72. Those four jumbo hot dogs could have made that a lot worse. 4000 mg of sodium for the lose!

Saturday, July 22nd

After getting back from the walk last night, I had to eat a few things. It had been about 5 or 6 hours since the hot dogs. One thing I've noticed is that I get hungry again within an hour or two after eating, say, 200 to 300 calories. The problem is that that doesn't scale up. So if I eat 1500 calories of cow fat, the hunger will come back quicker than I would hope. Sleep, wake up, eat some more, and find myself back on track to missing my targets. So, turn around, do a bunch of chores, walk to the corner store and back for some soda, do a few more chores, then it's off to the workouts proper.

Walk. Park it on the sidewalk and reset the clock, then its down the walk, up the hill to the corner store, then down the main drag to home. Short, but effective, given the climb back up onto the hill.
Distance: 1.53 miles
Duration: 30 minutes

Walk Again. Just down to the corner store and back. Nothing too stressful, except for the angry customer who held up the line.
Distance: 1.02 miles
Duration: 24 minutes

Cardio & Core Express. Completed. Need to open up the calories available for dinner. Noticed my Elbow to Knees are getting more "twist". Improvement!

Fireheart. Completed Day 18 at Level III. Lower body tendon work, with leg raises, leg circles, rear kicks, and holds. Not too much trouble with this one, so I stacked it with the Lowerbody Tendon workout below.

Epic Core Challenge. Completed Day 18. Twists, with a 20 lb weight. Moved up to 20 reps, still no problem.

Lowerbody Tendon Strength Workout. Completed. Need to start looking for something tougher with this.

Calories Out: 3,031
Calories In: 2,592
Deficit: 439
 

LongSlowBurn

Well-known member
Pirate from Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
"My most important classes in college were Kung Fu, Judo, and Beginning Gym Tumbling: those are the classes that taught me how to fly through the air and land on my head without dying."
Sunday, July 23rd

Busy day. Nothing overly exciting, I just kept moving an exceptional amount for a Sunday. And now my back aches.

Walk. I had a package drop at the Amazon Locker at the corner store, so I grabbed my pack, a bunch of plastic bags for recycling, and headed out. First down to the grocery store, drop off the bags, and grab some applesauce and cereal. Then it's up the big hill and to the corner store for the package, then back home. Just a nice little stroll.
Distance: 2.34 miles
Duration: 53 minutes

Good Morning! Workout. Completed at Level 3 with EC... just not in the morning. This served as an extra calorie sink to take care of excess food from this weekend.

Fireheart. Completed Day 17 at Level II. Lunge/cross, strikes, front kicks. I stopped at level two as Lunge/crosses were causing some sorenessness in the knees. I did use 1 minute rests, though, rather than the usual 2 minutes.

Epic Core Challenge. Completed Day 17. Up Down Planks and Holds. Still having some issues alternating the "push-up" hand, but finished the sets.

Upper Body Tendon Strength Workout. Completed. The clenches are a really killer.

My back aches.

Calories Out: 3,500
Calories In: 3,191
Deficit: 309. My scale is showing a slight drop in both weight and body fat percentage, but I'm unclear if that's just from water retention due to salty foods. It shouldn't be doing both if that's the case.
 

LongSlowBurn

Well-known member
Pirate from Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
"My most important classes in college were Kung Fu, Judo, and Beginning Gym Tumbling: those are the classes that taught me how to fly through the air and land on my head without dying."
Monday, July 24th

My back doesn't ache! Yay! Legs are a bit sore getting going this morning, but that's great. DOMS for the win! Less busy day, strangely. I got to spackle and paint today, so that's something differet. Lots of chips (crisps if you're British), so I'm paying for that in the workouts now. Time for ome cardio...

Butterfly Workout. Completed at Level II with EC. My legs were feeling the impacts of the jumping jacks by set 5, so I called it there. Als in that last set, I was kind of noticing all the blood pooling at the ends of my arms in the circles and jacks. My heart may not have been keeping up. I'll have to skip the EC next time.

Fireheart. Completed Day 20 at Level III. Push ups, jabs, palm strikes, jab/cross. Nearly quit again at set four or five. If felt like the circles did something to my right shoulder. Instead, I adjusted my hand placement to line more up with my chest, rather than the shoulders. That took the strain off and let me finish all 7 sets.

Epic Core Challenge. Completed Day 20. Twists with a 20 lb weight. No problems.

Lowerbody Tendon Strength Workout. Completed. Also no problems.

Calories Out: 3,285
Calories In: 3,034
Deficit: 251

Tuesday, July 25th

I wrapped up the last bow on the mold job with the petri dish by showing my results to the boss, to which he replied "I want a petri dish!" :LOL: Food went okay today until I got home and remembered I was out of popcorn. I substituted 350 calories of popcorn (very filling, lots of fiber) with 5 slices of store bought bread and a theater box of Reese's Pieces that totalled up over a thousand calories. Good move, me. I now have more popcorn, and the bread I like to eat is gone.

Fireheart. Completed Day 21 at Level III. Sit-ups are still a little problematic, but getting better. They get worse when your upper back decides to pop and you have to wonder if the pain is going to start. It didn't, so that's good.

Epic Core Challenge. Completed Day 21. Up Down Planks and Holds, up to 11 reps. Getting sloppy at the end, so I'm right at the good spot.

Calories Out: 3,077
Calories In: 3,066
Deficit: 11. I made it! ;) Joking. The numbers aren't that accurate.
 

LongSlowBurn

Well-known member
Pirate from Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
"My most important classes in college were Kung Fu, Judo, and Beginning Gym Tumbling: those are the classes that taught me how to fly through the air and land on my head without dying."
Oh great... I thought I had a draft saved.

Wednesday, July 26th

Walk. Records show I did a walk today. I think it was a basic around the park walk, probably to burn extra calories, plus I should work to make sure my legs are in okay shape. I have a camping trip, and maybe an overnight backpacking trip on the horizon.
Distance: 2.04 miles
Duration: 49 minutes

Fireheart. Completed Day 22 at Level III. Turning Kicks, Knee Strikes, Side Kicks, plus Combos. I really need to work on the order for my knee strike / elbow combos. I think I'm throwing the elbow with the wrong leg forward.

Epic Core Challenge. Completed Day 22. Twists. I think I skipped the weight this time. Just wasn't feeling it.

Lowerbody Tendon Strength Workout. Pretty sure completed. I think I got this one done, then didn't do a Tendon workout on Thursday.

Calories Out: 3,332
Calories In: 2,610
Deficit: 722. Almost on target!

Thursday, July 27th

Fitbit says only a 24 minute workout, so I'm pretty sure here is where I skipped the extras. Taking it easy with all the push-ups I'm going to be doing makes sense, as well.

Fireheart. Completed Day 23 at Level II, I think. Push ups, jab/cross, backfists, and holds. Knowing that the Up/Down Planks are coming, plus with the twitch in my right shoulder still being there, only doing Level II makes sense.

Epic Core Challenge. Completed Day 23. Up/Down planks and holds. Done.

Calories Out: 3,218
Calories In: 3,029
Deficit: 189. Still to the good.

Friday, July 28th

At least I remember what I did today... which is nothing. Came home from work and ran around grabbing stuff, because I'm off to the campground nice and late.

20230728_212849.jpg

The closest I came to a workout was walking to the primitive campsite with a 35 to 40 pounds backpack on me. Then it was set up the tent, split my dimensional lumber into firewood, and enjoyed the evening! The bright point is that when I do this, I sometimes skip on the meals at the end of the day, plus I go to bed earlier.

Calories Out: 3,544
Calories In: 2,501
Deficit: 1,043. Sweet!

Saturday, July 29th

Well, it's up at a semi-decent time, make breakfast, fiddle around for a bit, then break camp and head home. I could only reserve one night, so I was mostly focused on whether or not I could carry my backpacking rig, complete with 5 liters of water, even a short distance. Looks like I can!

Fireheart. Completed Day 24 at Level III. Core work, focusing on bridges and leg raises. After eating today, I was kind of hoping for a little more cardio, but okay. Done, no problems. I'm getting a little better at activating my lower core on those leg lifts.

Epic Core Challenge. Completed Day 24. Twists with a 20 lb weight. No problems.

Upper Body Tendon Strength Workout. Completed. Typing this in, I'm now a little unclear on if I actually did the Lower Body version on Wednesday, considering I apparently did it on Monday. Well, I know I did this one today.

Calories Out: 2,849. Clearly, I needed to do more today.
Calories In: 2,803.
Deficit: 47. Well, there went my bonuses from yesterday...
 

LongSlowBurn

Well-known member
Pirate from Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
"My most important classes in college were Kung Fu, Judo, and Beginning Gym Tumbling: those are the classes that taught me how to fly through the air and land on my head without dying."
Sunday, July 30th

Ah, just a decent day off. Wake up, fiddle around for a bit, then kick off the rest of the morning with a workout!

15 Minute Morning Workout. Completed, no EC. Got the plants watered, the air in the apartment changed out, and pushed this workout out. No problems!

Fireheart. Completed Day 25 at Level III. Day's almost over, but we've got time for this... and it's all combos. Things were getting sloppy towards the end, and maybe tweaked one of my knees doing turning kicks, but it was a real calorie scorcher. Done.

Epic Core Challenge. Completed Day 25. Up-Down planks and holds. Getting kinda dicey there at the end. I'm glad I didn't do the Morning Workout right before this, since that one hit the push-ups as well.

Calories Out: 3,222
Calories In: 2,063
Deficit: 1,159. I wonder if having heavy protein for breakfast helped with this?

edit: day counts were off.
 
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