Stronger everyday

JohnStrong

JohnStrong

Well-known member
Commando from Alberta
Posts: 890
"It never gets easier, you just get better."
✔ Classic Warmup
✔ Wake Up and Make It Happen! workout
✔ Lower Back workout
✔ Daily Push-ups (Day 9)

Day 11/11 completed! 🥳 Would've liked to finish this streak with a more challenging workout, but my body is definitely fighting something (feel blech) so I opted to double up some lighter, simpler routines to keep up the exercise. Yah, mild sore throat and very low energy. In any case, tomorrow will be a rest day, but I'll continue with the push-up program. Then - onto another streak with some light exercise options. I really dislike allowing sickness to interrupt habit, barring breaking into a fever. Be well bees 🙂☕
 
JohnStrong

JohnStrong

Well-known member
Commando from Alberta
Posts: 890
"It never gets easier, you just get better."
✔ Classic Warmup
✔ Experimental workout #1 (Level 1)
✔ Daily Push-ups (Day 11)

Day 1/12 completed. Tried my own home-grown workout today and it was good. Medium difficulty. I'm noticing an improvement in my push-up endurance 💪

I'm feeling a bit better; thanks @Mianevem @Anek @Sif_Shepard @Fremen Turns out my blech may have been tied to some seriously diminished air quality resulting from forest fires in the pacific-northwest(nowhere near us). Rain is on the horizon and should improve things.

📚I have just not been in the mood to read lately. My gut tells me it's just because the book I am reading has started to suck. Probably true, but I would like to finish it 🤷‍♂️
 
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SlothEnergy

SlothEnergy

Well-known member
Posts: 246
JohnStrong said:
Rest day today. I thought I'd use this as an opportunity to reflect on what's helped me get on a good track of exercising. I've identified 6 elements:

  1. Exercising everyday
  2. Having fun
  3. Pursuing goals (defined, measurable, deadline)
  4. Summoning a vision (an ever present horizon)
  5. Comrades
  6. Using my imagination
Click to expand...
I really like this post! I can totally relate to your experience of getting on and off the exercising wagon.
Your 6 elements are spot on, including the last one! In fact, I remember that I discovered Darebee through a Batman challenge, some years ago. I loved the idea of injecting some fantasy into training.
 
JohnStrong

JohnStrong

Well-known member
Commando from Alberta
Posts: 890
"It never gets easier, you just get better."
✔ Classic Warmup
✔ Legs of Steel (Level 1)
✔ Express Abs (Level 1)
✔ Daily Push-ups (Day 14)

Day 4/12 completed. Doubled up a couple simpler workouts. Dietary habits have been OK, sticking to what I should. Overall I've noticed I'm snacking more. I think this is simply due to increased amounts of exercise. Considering adding a 3rd meal to my day (breakfast) but I'm not sure, I tend to be sharper at work when I skip it.

Have a good one bees! 🙂

On a different note, I'm halfway through this 1924 silent film, The Last Laugh. Directed by F.W. Murnau (of Nosferatu fame). It's beautiful and heartfelt. Wondering if the title betrays something vengeful in the end:
 
JohnStrong

JohnStrong

Well-known member
Commando from Alberta
Posts: 890
"It never gets easier, you just get better."
✔ Classic Warmup
✔ Bodyguard workout (Old School, Level 1)
✔ Daily Push-ups (Day 16)

Day 6/12 completed. Woohoo! I'm proud of myself. This was an intimidating workout (40 squats, 40 sit-ups, 40 front kicks, etc.) and I'd been avoiding it 😂 I did better than I expected. I'm not going to claim I was doing perfect form for my sit-ups in the 3rd set, lol.

Current vibe:
 
JohnStrong

JohnStrong

Well-known member
Commando from Alberta
Posts: 890
"It never gets easier, you just get better."
✔ Classic Warmup
✔ Code of Abs workout (Old School, Level 1)
✔ Farpoint workout (Stretching)
✔ Daily Push-ups (Day 17)

Day 7/12 completed. Replaced rest periods with a stretching routine, was a nice combo. Fitting a short stretch routine into the end of every workout would probably be a good idea!

I've given it a lot of thought and, given my schedule, I don't think I can make significant progress on hanging endurance and pull-ups without a home-based solution. There are some great playground options in my neighbourhood, but it's not practical to make use of those regularly. I'm very resistant to using a door-based pull-up bar, so that leaves something like a power tower or a mounted bar. I'm considering a ceiling mounted pull-up bar; but, man, they expensive! I think it will be the best solution given my available space. Anyway, I'll keep shopping around. Be well bees! 🙂☕
 
JohnStrong

JohnStrong

Well-known member
Commando from Alberta
Posts: 890
"It never gets easier, you just get better."
✔ Classic Warmup
✔ Rebel workout (Old School, Level 1)
✔ Daily Push-ups (Day 19+20)

Day 10/12 completed. Oops, forgot pushups yesterday so I'm doubled up again. Been a busy weekend! Fall is settling so beautifully into our neighbourhood, but I think some heavy rain starts today ☔ Never too busy to defend the hive 🎃💪
 
JohnStrong

JohnStrong

Well-known member
Commando from Alberta
Posts: 890
"It never gets easier, you just get better."
✔ Classic Warmup
✔ Family Tradition workout (Level 1)
✔ Daily Push-ups (Day 21)

Day 11/12 completed. Seeing it's Halloween I thought I'd try my home-grown, Castlevania-inspired workout :) (below). Happy Halloween bees! :bat:

Family_Tradition_G.jpg
 
JohnStrong

JohnStrong

Well-known member
Commando from Alberta
Posts: 890
"It never gets easier, you just get better."
✔ Classic Warmup
✔ Naked with a Rock workout (Level 1)
✔ Daily Push-ups (Day 22)

Day 12/12 completed! :gotthis: Weird day, I slept in and exercised later in the morning. Today I did another home-grown, Rust-themed workout (below). I used a 12lb. medicine ball and it was a harder workout than I expected! Tomorrow will be a rest day and then start a new streak. Be well bees :)

Naked_with_a_rock_G.jpg
 
JohnStrong

JohnStrong

Well-known member
Commando from Alberta
Posts: 890
"It never gets easier, you just get better."
✔ Classic Warmup
✔ Chisel workout (Old school, Level 1)
✔ Daily Push-ups (Day 24)

Day 1/13 completed. Good workout today, really got the blood flowing. Physically I'm feeling OK. I don't know if it's the seasons changing, a minor bug, or what - but I've felt blech again. I'll try to remember to drink more water, have felt very dehydrated. Doesn't help the temperatures have dropped and our heaters strip all the moisture out of the air.

I think it's about time to start a new program; I've been working through Pocket Workouts for a couple months, but most of the workouts now remaining are smaller, micro-routines that aren't quite enough on their own. I'm considering a Level II playthrough of Hero's Journey. I believe it would be a big challenge for me, but it would give me a good track to follow through the busy holiday season.

I was in very poor shape before beginning my journey with Darebee; I had not regularly exercised for a few years or so. I had all kinds of concerns about my lower back; it's doing much better. When I started Darebee's routines, I took some solace in the fact that I was so weak it made sense to have no expectations whatsoever. Any activity was progress. I just wanted to slowly build up a foundation of muscles. After a few months, I think I've done that. While it's a very short time relative to my stint of inactivity, I think it's time to challenge myself more. If I bite off more than I can chew, I'll have discovered my limits which is good, and I can pare back. What's more important to me is 1) having fun exercising, and 2) striking a balance of activity that I can sustain *daily* for the rest of my life. I've got some fitness goals too (working towards my 50 pushups in one go) and I'll keep an eye on those. They're useful battles to have in service of the long term war against entropy/decay :onfire: Stronger everyday!

Thanks for reading and have a good one 😊☕
 
TopNotch

TopNotch

Well-known member
Ranger from Australia
Posts: 3,290
"Motivation is temporary. Discipline is forever."
Bruce Lee said, "if you always put limits on what you can do, physical or anything else, it'll spread over into the rest of your life. It'll spread into your work, into your morality, into your entire being. There are no limits. There are plateaus, but you must not stay there, you must go beyond them. If it kills you, it kills you. A man must constantly exceed his level."
Kudos to you for working towards exceeding your level. :nod:
 
JohnStrong

JohnStrong

Well-known member
Commando from Alberta
Posts: 890
"It never gets easier, you just get better."
✔ Classic Warmup
✔ Sculptor workout (Old school, Level 1)
✔ Daily Push-ups (Day 25)

Day 2/13 completed. Thanks for the support! @SkorpionUK @TopNotch Interesting workout today that introduced very slow reps; looks like it's no longer available in the workout database, though the name lives on. I'm having some sketchy sleep and I think I know why, hopefully I can iron it out in the next few days 😊☕
 
JohnStrong

JohnStrong

Well-known member
Commando from Alberta
Posts: 890
"It never gets easier, you just get better."
✔ Classic Warmup
✔ Boxer workout (Failed)
✔ Daily Push-ups (Day 27+28)

Day 5/13 completed. In a first for me, I tapped out of the workout after 3 sets today because I wasn't having any fun 🥱 It reminded me how much I appreciate a guided exercise plan which Darebee workouts typically provide really well. But shadowboxing for 5 minutes x5 just wasn't fun; I think if I had a plan for how many reps or combos I'd do during the 5 minutes it would have made it less mundane. When my exercise is structured it feels more purposeful and helps me push through high rep counts. A good example is Boss Fight which, though consisting of 10 sets, was fun to fight through 😠

On a slightly related note, does anyone else dislike counting reps beyond 10? If I have 40 reps in an exercise, I typically count to 10 four times. I find the higher I count the harder the exercise feels. Some sort of psychological hiccup of mine 😝 🤷‍♂️ Have a good one! 😊☕
 
Laura Rainbow Dragon

Laura Rainbow Dragon

Moderator
Bard from Canada
Posts: 4,558
"Striving to be the change."

Moderator
JohnStrong said:
On a slightly related note, does anyone else dislike counting reps beyond 10? If I have 40 reps in an exercise, I typically count to 10 four times. I find the higher I count the harder the exercise feels. Some sort of psychological hiccup of mine 😝 🤷‍♂️ Have a good one! 😊☕
Click to expand...
Yup. Although sometimes I use it as an excuse to get my mother to stop talking at me.
"Please focus on the exercise. If you keep talking at me, I'm likely to lose my count, and then I'll make you do more."

Counting is boring, and the boredom makes it feel like an exercise is dragging on and on and on.
I prefer timed intervals.
 
TopNotch

TopNotch

Well-known member
Ranger from Australia
Posts: 3,290
"Motivation is temporary. Discipline is forever."
Oh no, if there are 40 reps, I have to count to 40. If I only count to 10 and then start again, I'd forget how many times I'd done it - was that the second lot of 10 or the third..? I'd probably end up doing 50 (or was it actually 40) just to make sure! :LOL: But I tend not to do workouts at a high level (depending on my mood and the workout) simply because I get bored easily. I'd rather do 2 or 3 workouts at level 1 than 1 workout at level 3.
 
SkorpionUK

SkorpionUK

Well-known member
Sorceress from Germany
Posts: 315
"Building good habits"
Y'all don't count 1, 2, 3, ... 2, 2, 3, ... 3, 2, 3... etc?
Sometimes I go 1... 9, 10, 1... 9, 20, 1... 9, 30 instead, if it's fast and I can't squeeze in the whole words.

I also alternate sides to keep the sets straight in my mind, then count those reps from 1 each time.
 
Anek

Anek

Well-known member
Druid from Bavaria, Germany
Pronouns: She/her
Posts: 4,364
"If the time should come when you have to make a choice between what is right and what is easy, remember Cedric Diggory."
40 is the limit I count to in my head, because it's as much as I can pronounce in the time it takes to make the move. Then I raise a thumb to count how many times I've reached 40 :LOL:

Am I the only one who counts in sets of 4? Like, the emphasis is put on the multiples of 4, so I'll go 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8 etc.
 
Laura Rainbow Dragon

Laura Rainbow Dragon

Moderator
Bard from Canada
Posts: 4,558
"Striving to be the change."

Moderator
Anek said:
Am I the only one who counts in sets of 4? Like, the emphasis is put on the multiples of 4, so I'll go 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8 etc.
Click to expand...

Do you work out to music? A 4/4 time beat certainly influences one to count that way.

Because of my mother talking at me most of the time, I often have to count on my fingers and thumbs. So groups of 10 work for me!
 
Mianevem

Mianevem

Well-known member
Valkyrie from Budapest, Hungary
Posts: 1,157
I usually have no problem focusing on the counting, but if it's an exercise that's not too taxing and allows my mind to wander, the same happens to me that @mavie said, and I suddenly realise that I have already counted to 52 when it was supposed to be 40 only. :LOL:

If it's an exercise that is done for hundreds of reps, like when a challenge calls for lots of jumping jacks, I use my fingers to keep track of the hundred marks, but that's all, otherwise I just... count.

Tracking sets is trickier, there I always forget how many I've done if I don't mark it anywhere, even if it's just 5 sets in total (sometimes I don't remember if it's the last set or not even with 3 :LOL:)
 
JohnStrong

JohnStrong

Well-known member
Commando from Alberta
Posts: 890
"It never gets easier, you just get better."
SkorpionUK said:
Sometimes I go 1... 9, 10, 1... 9, 20, 1... 9, 30
Click to expand...
^That's my technique! It helps me keep track.
Mianevem said:
Tracking sets is trickier
Click to expand...
^Yep. For a high number of sets I've opted to track my progress with pen/paper.

Really interesting reading everyone's approach!

I've caught a cold 🤧 so exercising first thing in the morning has been a no-go. No major workouts. I'm fitting in some smaller routines where I can and will continue to do so.

Monday, November 8th
✔ Classic Warmup
✔ Office workout (Old School, Level 1)
✔ Coffee break workout (Old School, Level 1)
✔ Daily Push-ups (Day 29)

Tuesday, November 9th
✔ Express workout (Old School)
✔ Movie Night workout (Old School)
✔ Neck workout
✔ Daily Push-ups (Day 30) COMPLETE!

^I'll try and fit in some more today...
 
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