Fitness/Self Care Check In

I went to therapy today. Among other things, T and I shared a laugh.

Today for self care I went to group then to the pharmacy to pick up my prescriptions.
I walked about a mile

Glad things are going well with you guys.

Probably shouldn't have, but just did a shed ton of various pullups (around 9pm) which feels amazing, I feel pumped, drank a protein shake while doing it, and all that jazz, but, ... tomorrow it's my workout day and I'm probably gonna be weaker and more achey for it. ¬_¬ Ah well. I'm addicticted; I'd rather be addicted than not give a monkeys.

I never really mention "self-care", but, in some strange way, doing a metric [beep]-ton of German stuff today has been fun and interesting; I feel like that was part of my self-care. I saw my dad and helped with the Xmas decorations (despite hating that stuff) but that wasn't really self-care. xD

Checking in helps me stay on track. Thanks for the thread.

I like walking outside, but I have to make sure I bring a scarf because it's pretty cold and I just had pneumonia a few weeks ago. Maybe I'll see if our old dusty treadmill still works. I shared raw veggies and hummus with my friend at work today. It was nice.

Had a great visit with my doc today. I went on a bike ride. Today was a good day.

Yesterday no exercise as went to a Christmas party.
Really enjoyed the party as it was a vegetarian feast for which I cooked some nutritious food.
This morning went for my hour walk around river, high tide and not too hot ... Peaceful and Lovely. That 's 9 days in this fortnight so feel less sluggish.
Thanks for this thread

Glad you are recovering well 'just keep swimming'

I have been getting out most days on my bike. There's a big hill that I do that always gets my heart rate up. If I do that, then I consider I have done my daily quota. Plus have bath/ shower when I get home. Also, if its raining, I do aerobic workout to computer.- Yourself Fitness, but prefer to get outdoors.

I speed roped today, more like slow motion roped and tripped a lot but at least it's something

Missed yesterdays' workout, again. ¬_¬ But, did it just today, just now. 31:00. Was quite good, albeit shorter than I liked. Getting a lot stronger. My previous 1st set of (palms facing me) pullups was 12, (before that 10) but now I'm at 15, and I have a feeling I can push (or pull!) that to 17 or so. Reminds me of back when I first started doing pushups when I was about 16. xD Speaking of pushups, I'm gradually finding them easier to do, 'though not as much as I'd have thought, given all the other stuff I'm doing, but then I do tend to do them after a bunch of other stuff. (like pullups, which hit some of the same muscles)

I tend to just stick with interval training, ... one of the reasons for this, is because of my OCD, ... all this crap about numbers gets me obsessed and it all becomes a competition with myself. (like the time I did 100s of situps in one sessions and went through a fair bit of pain, ... why? NUMBERS!) The beep noise tells me to STOP and NOT do anymore, and makes counting the reps pointless.

I've actaully just realised I'm at the point now in which I'm doing too many pullups and need to up the weight, ... but how!? 'o.O Those weighted jackets are expensive as buggery. I guess I could try wearing super heavy boots. :P I have a rucksack in which I could stash some weights, but that's not really good enough. Some people stick a dumbbel between their legs (giggety!) but I'm worried I'll drop it and break the floor. x_x Guess I have pullups for some muscle gain and defintion. I guess I could stop focusing on the 'palms facing me' one, and go for the 'palms facing each other' one, and the 'palms wide, facing away' one. (God, I really need to find out what those 3 exercises are actually called)

The pullup thing I struggle with the most, not surprisingly, because it's arguably the hardest one, is the 'palms wide, facing away' one; I think I can do maybe 5 of them in the first set, at most, maybe 7 if I push pretty hard.

This Xmas, I think I'll buy myself a 20KG dumbbell, maybe two, if nobody gifts me it. Because I really need one. x_x I can't keep lifting 17.5KG. ¬_¬

squats are amazing!

can't believe i've neglected doing them for so long! I followed this today;


did one of those followed by 1 minute of jumping jacks, then some arm circling, side bends, lunges. then another 1 minute of those squats. also did about 4 and a half minutes on the exercise bike but the plan for today was mainly to get some hiit in.
think it worked, feel good. legs are a bit jelly-like. next time I might incorporate some jump rope, I don't do enough of that (mainly because I have to do it outdoors and it sometimes triggers my social anxiety)

When I used to go to a gym, I would see these guys doing pull ups wearing some belt that they attached a weight to. I don't know if that would work for you.

In the gym, I used this cool machine where you would stand on a bar and then put your hands on a pull up bar. The bar I was standing on could be set to push me up a certain amount and help me do a pull up. It's kind of the opposite from what you're looking for. I can't imagine being able to do a pull up ever, but even doing the fake ones where I was getting an upward push felt pretty neat. I'm glad you're doing well.

I'm going to try to insert a picture of what I mean.

Although I try to always get some aerobic exercise daily, the main thing that I do for general wellbeing is yoga. This consists of a warm up period, a twelve minute routine, then the same routine with longer holds, which takes about half an hour. Then, an optional meditation session.

This may seem like a lot, but I have been doing it for a long time, and have built up to this.

Yoga is about flexibility, balance, posture, relaxation, and so on, but everyone would benefit from doing stretching and warming up properly before exercising, as this minimises the risk of injury, and increases muscle power by a terrific amount. Also, stretching out your muscles after exercise puts you in good shape to prevent aches and pains, or cramped muscles, if you have had a heavy workout, or just gone for a brisk walk. That's why professional athletes do it! Give it a try.

Thanks for the video link , never heard of HIIT before, plenty of inspiration there.

Missed yesterday walk and didn't make it to the pool this week. Thumbs down

Today went for 50 minute walk, took the stairs twice. Thumbs up

Worked out my arms today with 5lb and 3lb weight repetitions, trying to tone them up

I went for a horseback ride on the weekend. I did not make much progress this time. I am very sore. I have been doing extra stretches to work out the soreness.

Did yoga & the Big Hill so a good day. Also, a good walk in the country in the unseasonal warmth and sunshine we are having in the UK. I would like to go for an occasional swim, but the pool gets too busy, and I can't chill, or do proper lengths. In the summer I swim in the sea. Some hardy souls go in all year round, but I'm not one of them!

Ah, nice - I love a good walk in the countryside! I only wish I lived in my home town up in Scotland, where there is amazing places to walk and a metric fudgeton of hills to climb. Then there's the fresh sea air to go through your lungs... aaah, man, I miss that place. x_x

Long story short: I had a good think about stuff, decided to change some things, and those things are in effect as of yesterday. (workout related) Now on my 5th huge tub of protein shake. xD That stuff is amazing.

Focusing more on something called ToT, which I've not paid nearly enough attention to, given I'm wanting to gain mass. Today was a hell of a ToT workout, 41 minutes, and a lot of time was spent doing 4 variations of slow chinups; it was ouchy but worth it and felt amazing at the end.

Well the sun is shining and I think I'll just do the same as yesterday.

I have visited Scotland and walked extensively there. Fantastic hills. You get the feeling of wilderness/ wild ness there that is impossible to find in crowded England except a few places like Dartmoor. And you can have as many bugs as you like!

Met a friend on my walk tonight so had company and a chat for a while on my 50 min walk near the river. Walked 3 flights of a 90 step staircase.
BB like the weights for the arms
Self care- plan to go to bed before 10 30 pm

I haven't worked out (properly) today. I have a decent reason, though, ... I've only had 6 hours sleep and didn't want to put my body into overdrive on such crappy sleep. I'm so tired. ---____--- I did however do a whole bunch of varied chinups, and a couple of pullups, most of which were slow, mathodical ones, so that hurt and felt great... until I banged my head on the door frame and earned myself pain and a nice lump. ¬_¬

Oh yeah, I also tried weighted chinups which was awesome! I shoved a dumbbell between my legs (giggety!) and gave it my best shot. It was only 7.5KG extra, but I sure as hell felt it. Apparently that's a little over a stone. 'o.O That can't be right, ... 16.5lbs according to a converter. Anywho, definitely trying that more often.

Well done. That looks like a pretty good leg workout. I'll start focusing back on the legs eventually. xD Still stuck on the "show muscles" at the moment... well, plus the back, and lats, ... dunno if you can count the lats as show muscles. xD I suppose they look pretty badass if you lift your arms up! But, alas, I think people might give me weird looks if I went out like that.

If you can, and if your legs are up for it, incorperate weighted squats, especially if you want to gain muscle and the legs are good for that. Basically, bar on your shoulders, and the usual squat position. I used to do them a lot and DAMN did they feel good, ... makes you feel powerful lifting that weight while squatting down and pushing yourself back up again.

If you have bad joints, or a dodgy back, I would check with your doctor to see if you're safe to do this stuff.

Woke up late & skipped yoga, though I did do a session on my bike. Also, I have restarted playing chess on my computer every day to keep the grey matter tuned in. I was playing online against human opponents, but there is so much cheating going on with people using computers, I figured that if you are going to play against one, just do it, and miss out the middle man.

The festive season his here, with all its temptations, and it's hard not to over indulge. I am going to celebrate the solstice on Saturday, and also spend time with family over Xmas, but hope to strike a balance between a bit of indulgence and not losing the progress I have been making. What are your thoughts?

Also, re chin ups, the other one is when you pull the chin up bar screws out of the door frame and deposit yourself on the floor! :-)