Day 2-4 of Nerd Fitness Challenge

After the first day of this adventurer's quest, I learned an eye-opening lesson. On my first day I had been so eager to begin my journey that I over-exerted myself. I had accomplished too much in too little time and rushed through everything. Although I didn't know it then I would pay the price the next day.

On the second day of my journey, I had to rest. I pretty much camped in just to regain strength and stamina.

On my third day, I was very much prepared and could truly feel the weight of the journey ahead. I had slowed my pace with my strengthening exercises to actually feel the muscles beginning to come alive again.

Although, parts of me are burning and sore from yesterday--I managed to complete a jump-rope cardio challenge for myself. I originally aimed for ten minutes but could only manage five. And I went for a hike later in the day to Towsley-Wiley Canyon Trail.

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Lucky for me, my husband is a former fitness instructor. When I finished my exercises on Monday he looked very concerned. "You're done already?" "Yeah." "How much did you do?" "3 sets of 5 reps on pretty much everything" "You need to sit down ...take tomorrow off from cardio too." "Why?" "You can't do all that in twenty minutes!"

He was right. I was too eager to complete all my exercises that I didn't break between each set. I didn't notice anything wrong until about two hours later when my whole body felt like it had been slammed into concrete. He said I was lucky that I didn't injure myself.

I took Tuesday off, though I had planned a special jump-rope challenge for myself. I knew better than to risk it.

Wednesday, I did pre-cardio stretching followed by cardio and then my strength workout. I took my time and it with 1-2 minute rests between each set my whole workout ended up being almost an hour. I finished my workout with stretching. Then I had a chiropractor appointment, which ended up being more needed than I realized.

Prior to this 6-week challenge, I tried to complete a 2-week practice run but stopped after the first week. My hip felt like it was out, which sometimes happens from the stupidest thing I do at work. My chiropractor informed me that my hip was out and my neck was as well. So --now I'm fully aligned correctly and have better knowledge in how to not shock my body, so I can work out properly.

So here's what's been going on:

Tuesday; April 16th:

1. cardio: refrained from any activity since overexertion of previous day's workouts (pts: 0/0)
2. strength: refrained from any activity since overexertion of previous day's workouts (pts: 0/0)
3. diet: refrained from sinful sweets and other scrumptious treats (CON: +1)
4. life: left work on time...and watched the newly purchased 3rd Rock from the Sun (season 1) dvds with my husband (WIS: +1)

Wednesday; April 17th:

1. cardio (STA:+1)

• March in place (25 reps)
• Jog in place with knees high (25 reps)
• Jumping Jacks (25 reps)
• Body Weight Squats (5 reps)
• Hip Rotation on each leg (5 reps)
• Forward leg swings (5 reps)
• Arm circles forward (5 reps)
• Arm circles backward (5 reps)

2. strength/ personal circuit (STR: +1)

• Lunges (3 sets, 5 reps/no weights)
• Straight Leg Dumbbell Deadlifts (3 sets, 5 reps/5 lb weights)
• Military Dumbbell Press (3 sets, 5 reps/5 lb weights)
• One Arm Dumbbell Rows (3 sets, 5 reps/5 lb weight )
• Crunches (3 sets, 8 reps)

3. diet (CON: +1)

• refrained from sweets but man oh man am I craving chocolate!

4. life (WIS: 0/0) --no points possible today, had the day off from work

Thursday; April 18th:

1. cardio (STA:+1)

• 5 mins of jump rope (no weights)--KILLED! I originally wanted to do 10-minutes but p**sied out after 5-minutes with 1-2 minute pauses between. Boy am I out of shape! Hahaha
• went for a walk/trail with the husband. We took the 1.9 mile hike up Towsley-Wiley Canyon Trail. I'm thinking it was probably close to 2.5-3 miles given that we looped back to the parked car. Boy are my legs smoked! I was nearly out of breath a couple of times at the beginning just because this is a fairly moderate hike with steep uphill areas. Then the nerd in me came out and just pretended I was on a quest in Skyrim. My character doesn't pant...she takes deep breathes and takes her time up and around sharp bends! I took pictures of the scenery and had a good time.

 

2. strength/ personal circuit (STR: 0/0)

• no strength workouts scheduled for today

3. diet (CON: 0/0)

• I decided as a process for weaning myself off of crap food for a while that I will allow myself one day for one naughty food item a week. This is to prevent binge eating later...so I originally aimed for Sunday to be my weekly one day for a treat. However, my husband was sweet and knew I'd been craving chocolate. He bought these organic peanut butter cups from Whole Foods. On the plus side there wasn't any corn starch or stuff like that...but still...no points gained in the Constitution department for today.



4. life (WIS: 0/0)

• no points possible today--no work

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Total Points Earned this week: 10/10
Total Points Possible for entire week: ___/20

Official Day 1 of Nerd Fitness 6 Week Challenge

Day 1: This adventurer has begun her quest to find greatness. She is prepared for the long road (by long--six weeks to start, then beyond) ahead. There will be inclining planes, rocky roads (not the ice cream), and grueling tests of strength (physically and mentally).

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So here's the skinny on today's adventure:



1. cardio (STA:+1)
◾March in place (25 reps)
◾Jog in place with knees high (25 reps)
◾Jumping Jacks (25 reps)
◾Body Weight Squats (5 reps)
◾Hip Rotation on each leg (5 reps)
◾Forward leg swings (5 reps)
◾Arm circles forward (10 reps)
◾Arm circles backward (10 reps)

2. strength/ personal circuit (STR: +1)
◾Squats (3 sets, 5 reps/no weights)
◾Hip Raises (3 sets, 5 reps)
◾Overhead Tricep Extension (3 sets, 5 reps/5lb weight)
◾Rows with Resistance Band (3 sets, 5 reps/beginner band)
◾Plank (3 sets, 5 reps/ 10 sec holds)

3. diet (CON: +1)
◾refrained from sweets, though the chocolate dipped macaroons at work were tempting...I resisted...w00t!

4. life (WIS: +1)
◾I left work on time and as tempted as I was to review some of the notes I brought with me when I got home...I relaxed. I spent time with the husband, then jumped into the fitness adventure.

All in all---a good first day. 4/4 points possible. Yay!



Stay tuned, for tomorrow's continued journey. For now...I'll find an inn and rest ...no double xp though.

Duck!

Actually...ducks!

We have two ducks that have become regulars in our backyard. We sort of adopted them. Brian and I feed them.

We've been informed that they'll only stay a month longer until the 'heat' of spring lasts.

Dentist

I hadn't been to a dentist in so long.

Do you ever get that gut feeling when you're about to do something that will end up hurting you in the long run?

I had that feeling six plus years ago when I last went to the dentist. I had gone for a routine checkup and the staff seemed different. Same faces-different attitude. The doctor insisted upon x-rays, which I'm sure I'd already had done months before (they're only supposed to be taken every five years, unless something drastic occurs). I'd let her do the x-rays. Then she told me I had two cavities because I wasn't brushing and flossing enough. I was surprised because I thought I always did a good job with my hygiene. Then she told me that she'd need to keep me an extra hour or two to do the fillings for my teeth. That's when I got that funny gut feeling. It seemed shady. I had told her that I didn't have the time and didn't want to get anything filled. She started pleading that for my own health I should have the cavities filled. I kept apologizing (which I felt stupid for doing) but insisted that I wait, since my dad was paying for my dentist work at the time. She said, "you're insured. it'll be fine. If you want to call your dad now and ask him I'm sure he'd be more concerned about your health." I refused again because it seemed now that she was trying to sucker me into work I didn't intend on having done when I came in. There were several things wrong with the picture: 1) How does a good dentistry have all this time to clear their schedule to give an unscheduled filling? 2) Why was I needing x-rays after having them done three months prior? 3) Why was she insisting that I not leave without further work done? Then the grand-daddy of all things she could have possibly said that were wrong: She started to scold me. "You need this done now. Look you don't have a choice. You need your cavities filled or they're going to spread and your mouth will get worse." I caved under the pressure and said, "okay" but my gut told me this was very wrong. The hygienist stepped in after the doctor left to get tools. She said, "I'm not a dentist and I can't legally tell you what to do, but I do have a firm belief that if you ever aren't willing to do something that you aren't legally obligated to do that either." When I asked her what she said (because I couldn't believe she would say that to me) she just patted my shoulder and left the room. When the doctor came back, I yanked off my bib and left it on the chair. "You know what I changed my mind. I'm not getting my cavities filled today. I don't want to argue. I'm not listening to you try to keep me here. I have things to do and you're wasting my time." She told me to reschedule another appointment if I wasn't going to wait. "Your receptionist has my contact information if she wants to schedule something, but this is not happening today." I walked out and hadn't received dentist work since.

Until today....

I went to Copperhill Family Dental based on several positive reviews on Yelp.

Not only did Cathy (the hygienist) take very good care of me but she explained every step of the work she was doing.

My insurance covered everything and there was no copay. Hurray!

The doctor came in after my cleaning and reported, "You have no cavities and a very clean mouth despite not having seen a dentist for so long".

The old dentistry that I had gone to for work used to be good. I'd referred Brian to them and felt bad because before I had a bad experience with them they did dental work on him. They messed up his eye tooth and completely damaged the nerve. We didn't find out until he had intense tooth pain months later (and after my last experience there). His tooth is permanently discolored too.

I told the receptionists at this new place about "cavities spreading" and they understood why I had avoided going to a dentist for so long.

I'm relieved I walked out that day and lucky I found a good place this time.

Hurray!

Excited for Something New...

I'm really excited right now. I don't want this to be a long post, but I just wanted to share the good exciting news.

It's not that exciting...but I'm excited.

Generally, I don't buy into fad diets or workout routines. And I'm not buying into this one. It's free. All this is...is motivation. Nothing more or less.

I would try to get motivated to exercise and it'd last a good month (if that...generally a week or two). Then, I would get tired of dragging my butt to the gym and feel like the hardcore fitness freaks were judging me and my flabs.

I was looking for some fitness tips when somehow I stumbled upon Nerd Fitness in the results. The name caught my attention, so I clicked the link for more information. I ended up reading several different articles. I learned things that Brian had been teaching me from his experience as a fitness trainer. This website is created by Steve Kamb who tells you that you don't need to starve yourself to lose weight--just eat healthy.

He promotes the Paleo diet, which in short is eating the way we once did several years ago when we were just cavemen and women. We are the only species that continues to drink/eat dairy past infant hood and from other species, no less. We have been convinced that we need an abundance of grains to stay healthy, but grains actually don't digest very well. People have been told to count carbs and calories. We have been told that soy milk and nonfat milk are better for you. I checked out our container of soy at work and it has over 260 grams of sodium....bleh. Nonfat milk actually has more sugar in it than whole, so it's essentially healthier to drink whole milk if you are going to have dairy. Basically--this diet gets you focused on what your body needs, rather than counting calories or carbs. You avoid grains, dairy, and processed foods. It's the simplest thing I've ever read and makes sense. It's everything I learned in health class. People forget there are good fats and bad fats. Your body needs good fats. You burn off these fats and have more energy. People who avoid all fats together end up starving themselves and having nothing to build muscle off of.

I think what I love most is that the Nerd Fitness website makes references to SCI-FI movies and various computer games---you know...things us nerds love. Steve talks about games from the 80s to present day and movies such as Back to the Future and Star Wars.

What Steve does is aim to make fitness like a game. It's cool. It's just what I needed, because I love playing computer games and between shifts from one place to another I end up doing more sitting and playing on my phone than I do taking a walk somewhere.

The event I'm excited for is called a 6 Week Challenge. You can start at any time, but there are sign up sheets online you can join with groups together for competition. Winners at the end of the 6 weeks get free Nerd Fitness hats, t-shirts, etc.

So--like a game similar to World of Warcraft or Guild Wars...you pick the class you want. He gives a list on his website. I decided to go with Adventurer for the beginner who isn't afraid to try new things and isn't sure what path he/she wants to take, but knows he/she wants to make a healthy journey.

The next step is to create 4 goals that are easy to follow and are very specific (he refers to them as SMART: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely).

3 of the goals have to be a mix of diet/fitness and the fourth goal has to pertain to some area of your life that you want to improve upon.

I chose these as my goals:

Diet & Fitness

 

• Go on one hike a week - I feel like this is an achievable goal. I can start with short and basic hiking trails, then progress to longer and more challenging hikes by the sixth week.

 

• Cut out sweets & junk food - I eat too much junk. I love candy...I have a major sweet tooth. I would love to change my eating habits to be Paleo, but for now I have to start small....goodbye sweets!

 

• Complete a strength workout 3x a week - I've already tried some of the workouts here just to get the juices flowing. I love the Konami Code Workout. I feel like it's simple enough but can be adjusted to a more intense workout as I progress. I would like to alternate workouts per week, but definitely workout at least 3x a week (if not in the gym, then at home)

Life

• Practice better time management - I am the worst at time management. I'm an assistant manager at a coffee house about an hour away from where I live. I somehow either fall behind during the day or finish on time, but want to stay long after clocking out to continue working. I need to keep better track of my time. I want to practice leaving at the time that I'm scheduled to leave (so I have more time for the husband, friends, and Nerd Fitness-of course).

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After you have set your goals--you are required to check in a minimum of 3x a week online to share your progress with others. You don't have to post pictures (unless that's something you want to do). You can participate by giving feedback or motivating other online members.

There are side "quests" or mini challenges that you can do for extra points.

There are roughly six separate groups. Each group gets one winner every six weeks and are ranked on progress points. They get free stuff.

Really--everyone wins, because you're moving...getting energy...and taking steps to be a healthier and better person.

Each Challenge lasts 6 weeks, but there are several challenges. For each Challenge you can one level up. My goal is to reach Level 4 or 5 before the end of the year. Woo hoo!


I've already had two people comment on my goals and are already encouraging me to go out and have fun.

It's really refreshing to have a group of "nerds" who have the same goal in mind---to get motivated for fitness and find the fun in being healthy.


Anyway--long post...probably sounds like an advertisement...but I'm stoked! Today is day two and my legs are already killing me. Yay! Good burn, good pain!