the december challenge

[rubthebuddha]

forgot to post it, but 185 yesterday morning, and i've been five days without a dew as of today.

[Oso]

I haven't been 185 since my senior year of HS...in 1985

hang in there on the dew fast, dude.


Did the workout this AM.



Still not there on the 12 pushup pyramid. Going up fine. Getting the set of 12 on the way back down but I'm still failing at 7 or 8 for the 11,10,9 and 8 sets but I'll complete 7 and down.

Still doing negatives on the pullup pryamid. I'll go back to regular after I get '1'...which i'm still about 2" short of.

[rubthebuddha]

thanks oso -- a tip:

find your weakest part of a pullup, and see if you can do a static hold at that spot. statics only tend to work 15 degrees plus/minus, but if that's your weakest part, give it the extra attention it needs.

[Oso]

cool. during the week I kinda do that. I'll try 4 or 5 times a night during class to catch '1'. I'll do a 6-8 count at the top failure point.

[Becca]

I know I haven't been posting my progress, but mainly cause I am not trying to loose weight. But I have made some gains...

I have worked myself up to doing the continuouse burpee thing for about 1:15. This has really shown in class via my endurrence. Sifu loves to have us do silent jumping jacks till no one can do them silently anymore, and for the first time ever, I'm one of the last still being quiet.

Also found a new way to work fore-arms. I got to move a 55-gallon fishtank up 3 flights of stairs. Some eeyot (Me) discided to put all the gravel in one 19-gallon bucket. Even with a good dolly that was a very strenuiouse work out. And not so much for my sholders and legs. I actually felt it in my fore-arms the most.

[fa_jing]

Originally posted by rubthebuddha
186ish a day or so ago. had a quick series of medical tests yesterday. turns out i have high blood pressure. admittedly, i was nervous as it was part of a job interview/assessment, it was noon and i had zero food in my system, a ton of water, little sleep, etc.

i'll weigh myself in the morning if i remember and see what the fresh number is. i know i'll get 180 by the end of the month, but the recent news kinda has me a bit down.

ROFL. A ton of water, eh? Good luck beating the test (J/K)


Hey, even if you lose a little weight, it has a huge impact on lowering your blood pressure. Also, try to avoid excessive salt in the diet.

[Ming Yue]

137.6





I celebrated by eating two pieces of chocolate fudge for breakfast this morning.

[rubthebuddha]

fajing -- pretty much everything's going hand in hand. dropping weight is needed for every reason, but losing 8 pounds from 180 is about 4 percent lower. that means my heart'll have to work 4 percent less, which is nice. i'm paying much more attention to sodium, and as everyone else says, i'm surprised as to how much of it is in stuff, even protein shakes.

my fiancée's mom did some research and gave me a list of vitamins and minerals that influence blood pressure. the biggest one was potassium, and i checked my intake, and unless it's a heavy melon day (no comment from the peanut gallery), my potassium intake is pretty much crap. i had been thinking it was higher than normal, but on average, i've been getting around 250 mg of the 2-2.5g daily recommendation. so it was shopping last night for lotsa good fruit and such like bananas, raisins, etc.

this is all a wake-up call for me in several ways, and i'm treating it as such.

MY -- nicely done. two points for you.

[rubthebuddha]

well, i didn't hit 180, but here's the good news:

1. 181 -- i was one pound shy. considering my hesitance at the time to do any really nasty HIIT, 7 pounds in a month was ok in my book.

2. checked my blood pressure last night -- 130 / 76. mucho better, says me.

3. caffeine addiction is gone. i still like soda and may have one with dinner on the weekend if we're out, but otherwise, i'm golden.

not quite the results i planned, but i'm not complaining. neither are my family and friends.

[Toby]

Well done rub. Good to see you did so well. I guess your recent quietness on the forums was because you were training so hard ...

[Oso]

I didn't get my one pullup either, close but no cigar.

i got video of my failure and will probably post it at some point to get critique on technique....but mostly I look like a struggling fat guy....

good news is that I had to pop another hole in the belt to cinch it down tighter...still haven't stepped on a scale yet and not sure I'm going to for a while.



sooooo, yea for us !

[MoreMisfortune]

way to go buddha, you the dude

hey kids, what is a pull up?

[Toby]

Originally posted by MoreMisfortune
hey kids, what is a pull up?

Not what you're thinking about, Xebs .

[MoreMisfortune]

what, its just an inocent questow

[rubthebuddha]

I guess your recent quietness on the forums was because you were training so hard

not quite. my fiancée and i spent some time up at the folks' house in washington state. i only signed on to read and mod. my training hasn't necessarily been harder -- just much more efficient. squats, dls are the mainstay for my legs, with a few sets of high-rep cleans, then tabata sets of mountain climbers or bw squats for fun at the end. upper body is just a fun variation of one-arm pushups i do that focuses more on the chest than anywhere else, then bent-over row and upright row. beyond that is just supplementary stuff that i do for ****s and giggles, like triceps stuff or yoga or whatever else.

regardless, i'm getting better. i'm going to drop another 5-10, then maybe add in a big leg-strength period of some flavor or another. maybe a couple ptp serieseses, if i can get enough plates. then who knows.