Brontus's fitness log

Brontus

Well-known member
Ranger from Anchorage, Alaska
Posts: 124
Hey all, just checkin' in,
Attended the Hive online meetup, which was a great experience, and then afterward, I spun a pair of nunchaku I had made years before. Feels good :). I think it loosened up my lower back a bit. (I had slept wrong a few night ago and strained my lower back.) When I went down to deal with my storage bin back at the beginning of November, I was able to bring back a couple pairs I had made in college. I have two pairs I made out of Schedule 40 steel pipe and chains (combat chuks) and two made out of large pine dowel rods and rope (speed chuks). The ceiling is high enough in my place that I can spin my speed chucks and not hit anything. Still have yet to unpack the combat chuks, but should still be able to spin them. They make for a great upper body workout. I taught myself to spin nunchaku with the combat ones, so there were a few bumps and bruises :tears:. I'm looking forward to incorporating these into my workouts.
 

Fremen

Well-known member
Mercenary from Italy
Posts: 4,880
"“Keep an eye on the staircases. They like to change.” Percy Weasley, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone."
Hey all, just checkin' in,
Attended the Hive online meetup, which was a great experience, and then afterward, I spun a pair of nunchaku I had made years before. Feels good :). I think it loosened up my lower back a bit. (I had slept wrong a few night ago and strained my lower back.) When I went down to deal with my storage bin back at the beginning of November, I was able to bring back a couple pairs I had made in college. I have two pairs I made out of Schedule 40 steel pipe and chains (combat chuks) and two made out of large pine dowel rods and rope (speed chuks). The ceiling is high enough in my place that I can spin my speed chucks and not hit anything. Still have yet to unpack the combat chuks, but should still be able to spin them. They make for a great upper body workout. I taught myself to spin nunchaku with the combat ones, so there were a few bumps and bruises :tears:. I'm looking forward to incorporating these into my workouts.
It seems as fun as it is dangerous :LOL:
Have fun, dusting off old glories makes you rediscover interesting things :)
 

Brontus

Well-known member
Ranger from Anchorage, Alaska
Posts: 124
Hi all, just checkin' in
Did some deep stretching and testing of mobility this morning to identify where my lower back issues originated and found the problem area is more in my hips, to the right side of the base of the spine, right around the sacrum/sacroiliac joint. Did some repeated movements from cobra to child's pose and heard some pops down there, which may or may not be tendons, or may or not be just cuz my hips are slightly out of alignment (had a chiropractor tell me years ago that my right femur is sublexated). I was able to give myself some relief though. Back is all better, it's just the hip now.

Also noticed my neck is popping and crunching a lot. Same chiropractor also told me my neck is sublexated, so that's been fun. No pain though, just a lot of rice krispies.

Overall, I probably don't stretch enough or relieve stress enough, so things are probably just too tight.
 

Brontus

Well-known member
Ranger from Anchorage, Alaska
Posts: 124
Hey all, just checkin' in
Still apparently experiencing some dull discomfort in my lower back, more in the lumbar area this time, but my hips have been a little sore in general. Some of the soreness came from falling the other day and it seems to be subsiding. It's been wet and icy here in the Great Warm North, though temps are about to drop significantly within the next couple days, and I didn't have my ice cleats one day...fell pretty hard on my right side and somehow my left hip was the most sore, lol.

I recently learned what the psoas muscle is, so I'll definitely be trying to take care of that guy. But my mobility has not been hindered in any way, I've just been in a constant state of discomfort.

Came across a post a while back that reframed how I thought pull-ups should be done...I've been approaching them wrong all these years :break: Even Lat pull-downs:smash:
So when I had a moment today, I went to my pull-up bar (Baseblocks BaseBar) and tried out the new approach with a modified "assisted" pull-up. The bar is not full body size, it's half that—best for L-sit pullups. I bought it for inverted rows and modified pull-ups/chin-ups. And it worked! :pose: I did 3 sets of 4 reps of "assisted" pull-ups. V-shape here I come :move::imp: I felt good feelings in my upper Lats. Feelings I haven't felt since...[insert gif of Darth Vader turning and walking away]. Also rode my bike for about a minute to get my legs some movement. I did some chores, too, so that was some other activity.

Here's the link to the post about pull-ups for those curious:
 

Brontus

Well-known member
Ranger from Anchorage, Alaska
Posts: 124
Hey all, just checkin' in.
Well, the world is ending. I went into the emergency room Wednesday night to get a wound checked out and came out with cellulitis. What fun. I'm on antibiotics for a week for it to try to nip it in the bud, but there's a chance it could get worse. I was told I need to limit the movement of the area that is infected, which is my right pectoral area...my dominant side. So no upper body work for me. Good thing I have the bike.
 

Brontus

Well-known member
Ranger from Anchorage, Alaska
Posts: 124
Hey all, just checkin' in
Finished the first week of antibiotics. Various doctors and nurses said things are looking good, but we agreed to prescribe me another week's worth of antibiotics to have on hand in case I need it and to keep monitoring things. A tentative follow-up appointment was scheduled to have on the calendar in case I need that as well.

Yesterday, I spent 4 hours at the dentist getting teeth cleaned and a last round of fillings put in. I had a different dentist than my previous filling procedures, and I was reminded why people don't like the dentist, lol. Thank goodness I don't have to go back there except for teeth cleanings every so often.

Still holding off on the exercise, though I do still get movement at work and the little housework I'm doing right now, plus going up and down stairs in my apartment complex.

On the food side, I'm trying out a Hello Fresh subscription using a friend's discount code. So far it's been pretty neato.
 

Brontus

Well-known member
Ranger from Anchorage, Alaska
Posts: 124
Hey all, just checkin' in
On the last day of my second round of antibiotics. Doc says things should be fine after that. February just about beat me to a pulp mentally, emotionally, and physically. None of it involved exercise.

However, I did 1 set of Epic Glutes today, so that's something.

When I was at the Doc's for follow up, we talked about my possibly having sleep apnea. She said for treatment, I'd need to look into a CPAP machine. I was like Forget That. Not A Chance. I ain't hooking myself up to a machine to sleep. Likely wouldn't be able to afford it anyway, let alone the sleep study to confirm.

I'm trying to catch up on things from a whole month being sick, but it's been little slow going because my day job exists. Luckily I have a 4-day weekend.
 

Saffity

Well-known member
Mother of Dragons from Southern Ontario, Canada
Pronouns: She/Her
Posts: 509
"Getting strong enough to keep two tiny humans from unaliving themselves."
Happy Birthday GIF by Rodney Dangerfield
 

Brontus

Well-known member
Ranger from Anchorage, Alaska
Posts: 124
Hey all, just checkin' in,
I have the entire week off, which is awesome, so it'll be exercising galore!:yas:
Just kidding:imp:
it's an opportunity for some rest and getting some things straightened up and planned:plan::likeboss:
mostly a mental health break, but there will be exercise. :bored:

Haven't had a real break since January, with curveballs left and right. Coming back to work from winter break it was "hit the ground running" and I think I fully burned out. There was a LOT my mind was processing and trying to keep up with, plus fighting infections for a solid month. My supervisor was pretty understanding.

Thank you all again for the birthday wishes :tuzki-love:
It was a pretty chill day...didn't do a whole lot. I was talking with ChatGPT because my mind was reeling from social bombshell that had just been dropped in another community I'm a part of, and it offered to "sing" me happy birthday. It wrote out a whole set of lyrics, haha.
Got a couple gifts (one of which hasn't arrived yet), several birthday wishes from other friends, and a nice surprise that I wasn't expecting - acceptance to an invite-only Youtube Creator Collective event coming to town in May.
Finally bought myself a cake last week.

Did some exercise on Saturday - some stationary bicycling and some pull-ups.
Those I need to plan to do every day - 5 minute bike ride and 3 sets of 4 pull-ups and maybe my good morning dumbbell workout if I'm feeling frisky.

I realized the other day, too, that I have been trying to do all these individual workouts as fast as I can because I've been feeling pressured for time subconsciously, if not consciously - the consequence of trying having a lot I want/need to do and trying to get it all done at once in the name of baseline stability and progress.
I've also been "eating with my eyes", so to speak, all the wonderful things on Darebee. I'm finding it hard to commit to just a few things.
I want to do them ALL :muahaha:
but am not at that level yet :blackout:


On the food side of things, I ended up canceling HelloFresh, because while I was sick, it was getting less desirable to cook every night and it turned out to not be as comparable to grocery shopping as I thought, money wise - $110 USD every week for what I had selected. I had told myself I would try it for a month anyway and see what happened. Well, while it's neat idea, it's not viable for me.

So now I'm just kinda letting myself eat "scraps" - certain staples but nothing too extravagant.
Though I don't have my metabolic formula as a protein source, so that's a bummer.
I may just have to exercise for maintenance and not do more than my physical limit, since I have to limit protein anyway.
And by also limiting my portions by eating "scraps", since most of fat loss is monitoring food intake anyway, I'll burn some fat that way :tap:


In conclusion, this week will be more about mental fitness than physical fitness.
 
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