Here I Go Again (On My Own? Probably Not)

[wjs]

Thank you, @MadamMeow, the support is appreciated.

The workout:
Seventeen Knee Push-Ups (9/8, one minute rest between)
The Guardian Challenge Day 17, 3 sets of 3:00 March Steps with one minute rest between each
Five minutes in the Pits with bastons

 

[wjs]

The owner of the company was at the store meeting last night and we had a conversation. Part of it was his assurance I was doing very well as a manager and, particularly, not repeating mistakes once pointed out to me. Now if only I could see that for myself.

The workout:
Eighteen Knee Push-Ups (9/9)
The Guardian Challenge Day 18, 3 sets of 24 Calf Raises followed by a 14 count Calf Raise Hold with 30 seconds of rest between each
30 minutes steady state cardio (10 step jacks/10 side jacks until time runs out)

 

[wjs]

So, being fair, I'm not much for the holidays. I like being alone most of the time, even more now that I have to deal with the public way more often than not. I'm not one for decorating for any occasion. And the weird American obsession with Christmas music as early as possible has never made sense to me. Why did I agree - no, that's not right - why did I want to be a retail store manager? I guess it's that desire to actually help people. Being unable to feel like I'm doing so working in the quality department for various industries, so far removed from seeing the effect those jobs have on the end users, might be it, since I can see in my customers that I helped them, even if just with acknowledging their presence in the store.

The workout:
Nineteen Knee Push-Ups (10/9, one minute rest between)
The Guardian Challenge Day 19, 3 sets of 4:00 March Steps with one minute rest between each
Two sets of Butt & Gut

Who knew three sets of four minutes of march steps plus two sets of Butt & Gut could make me sweat more than thirty minutes of my steady state cardio?*











*(Non-)Answer: Not me.

 

[wjs]

The workout:
Twenty Knee Push-Ups (10/10)
The Guardian Challenge Day 20, 3 sets of 26 Calf Raises followed by a 16 count Calf Raise Hold with 30 seconds of rest between each
Two sets of Graveyard Shift

 

[wjs]

Still working on the details of January's workouts. I have definitely settled on the new version of Foundation in place of my primary workout. I have almost definitely settled on the De-Stress Challenge in place of my exercise of the month. I'm trying to choose between Iron Core and Back & Shoulders for my challenge of the month. I am also debating twenty-eight days of February versus thirty*, the latter of which will make it easier to knock out a challenge without weird overlaps in March.

The workout:
Twenty-one Knee Push-Ups (7/7/7, one minute rest between)
The Guardian Challenge Day 21, 3 sets of 4:00 March Steps with one minute rest between each
Two sets of Alpha Protocol








*"But wjs, February never has thirty days! Have you gone mental?**" In this case, I would start 31JAN and end 01MAR, therefore starting the March plan on 02MAR. It makes for five months straight with no breaks between challenges and exercises of the month, but it beats weird overlaps for them instead.
**Maybe, but as seen, not for this case in particular.

 

[PetiteSheWolf]

I vote for 30 days in February You make sense!

 

[wjs]

I vote for 30 days in February You make sense!

Thank you, Petite Louve, for the input. I appreciate it.*

The workout:
Twenty-two Knee Push-Ups (8/7/7, one minute rest between)
The Guardian Challenge Day 22, 3 sets of 26 Calf Raises followed by a 16 count Calf Raise Hold with 30 seconds of rest between each
Two sets of Lower Back










*Both the input and that you think I make sense.

 

[wjs]

Nothing to see here. Maybe less.

The workout:
Twenty-three Knee Push-Ups (8/8/7, one minute rest between)
The Guardian Challenge Day 23, 3 sets of 4:00 March Steps with one minute rest between each
Two sets of Tempered Steel

 

[wjs]

The workout:
Twenty-four Knee Push-Ups (8/8/8, one minute rest between)
The Guardian Challenge Day 24, 3 sets of 26 Calf Raises followed by a 16 count Calf Raise Hold with 30 seconds of rest between each
Five minutes in The Pits, unarmed

 

[wjs]

Mistakes were made in tonight's workout. The "ideal" version of the workout is listed below... the actual did not go as planned. I had trouble with my last two knee push-ups. So much so that I had to give a bit of time between them and even still, in not giving enough time before the penultimate one I crumpled. During the march steps, I ended up doing six minutes, five minutes, four minutes because I missed the first stop point and marched an extra minute. Finally, during Paladin, I attempted to do full push-ups, but after the first I crumpled again, so pared back to knee push-ups because it was clear to me my arms were not prepared after the earlier part of the workout. I don't know yet how I feel about tonight's workout.


The workout:
Twenty-five Knee Push-Ups (9/8/8, one minute rest between)
The Guardian Challenge Day 25, 3 sets of 5:00 March Steps with one minute rest between each
Two sets of Paladin*










*The old one. So two push-ups for each time it shows up in a set because level 1**.
**Well, less than level 1, actually.

 

[wjs]

It seems two minutes did the trick for muscle restoration in my knee push-ups. Hopefully it stays that way through Saturday. Sentry is a nice leg workout. That is all.

The workout:
Twenty-six Knee Push-Ups (9/9/8, two minutes rest between)
The Guardian Challenge Day 26, 3 sets of 28 Calf Raises followed by a 18 count Calf Raise Hold with 30 seconds of rest between each
Two sets of Sentry

 

[wjs]

I have a tentative schedule of programs in 2025. This is, of course, subject to change based on my needs at the time, but right now these six are the plan:

January: Foundation*
March: 30 Days of LIIT
May: Total Body
July: Arms of Steel
September: Ronin's Blade
November: One Minute HIIT

Non-program months will follow some variation of what I have been doing with individual workouts. All months will include some sort of exercise of the month and challenge of the month, which may include add-on programs.








*I will reiterate that I have completed Foundation before, but this time I will be doing the one that's new to me. I believe there is enough new in it to be worthwhile to go through the program again. Also, it has been a while, so it will help refresh me on the rigors of DAREbee programs.

 

[wjs]

The workout:
Twenty-seven Knee Push-Ups (9/9/9, two minutes rest between)
The Guardian Challenge Day 27, 3 sets of 5:00 March Steps with one minute rest between each
Two sets of Back & Core

 

[wjs]

I think that with the new year, a new check-in thread is in order. Especially since this one is about a year and a half old and wasn't used for most of it. I don't yet have a title, but I'm sure it'll have some reference, pun, or other hidden meaning in it. It's kind of a thing I do.*

The workout:
Twenty-eight Knee Push-Ups (10/9/9, two minutes rest between)
The Guardian Challenge Day 28, 3 sets of 28 Calf Raises followed by a 18 count Calf Raise Hold with 30 seconds of rest between each
Two sets of Clash







*This thread title, for example, which @Flavia1432 rightly recognized.

 

[wjs]

I left work early today because I have to go back in about three hours from this posting. One of my closing staff called out sick and my duty as manager is to cover it by any means necessary, in this case by doing it myself.

The workout:
Twenty-nine Knee Push-Ups (10/10/9, two minutes rest between)
The Guardian Challenge Day 29, 3 sets of 5:00 March Steps with one minute rest between each
Two sets of Extraction*







*The second set I did half as many shoulder taps and plank rotations because of a strange not-quite-pain sensation on the left side of my back, roughly the size of my scapula. I figured safer to do fewer reps than push it and potentially hurt myself. I probably should have done half of each of those exercises on the first set, too.

 

[Laura Rainbow Dragon]

Sorry for the double Black Friday shift.
for your back.

 

[wjs]

Fairly calm day today, for a Saturday. Probably because most people that would normally have come in today were in the store for Black Friday. Rhetorical question: why is Black Friday even a thing?

The workout:
Thirty Knee Push-Ups (10/10/10, two minutes rest between)
The Guardian Challenge Day 30, 3 sets of 30 Calf Raises followed by a 20 count Calf Raise Hold with 30 seconds of rest between each
30 minutes steady state cardio (10 step jacks/10 side jacks until time runs out)



Tentative 2025 schedule, part two:
January will see the De-Stress Challenge as my exercise of the month and Back & Shoulders as the challenge of the month to go with Foundation.
February will include moving up to fully level 1 workouts, three full sets, and an increase in steady state cardio times after several months at thirty minutes, some form of crunches* as my exercise of the month, and I'm looking at Re:Center for the challenge of the month.
March and beyond is still hazy beyond the programs chosen and the intent to increase workout lengths for non-program months by a set** (or five minutes***, in the case of the cardio) per month (or per workout, for cardio).










*Could be standard, could be knee-to-elbow, could be long arm. Maybe a different type. I don't know, yet. I just know I want crunches to be here.
**Until a maximum of the level 3 version of the workout is achieved. I expect working out to the maximum I can during program months will help me increase sets for non-program months.
***Until such time as the workout is an hour long, as it once was.

 

[Mamatigerj]

Happy Badge Day!

 

[Fremen]

Congrats

 

[Obsinosterous]

Congratulations!

 

[Laura Rainbow Dragon]

Congratulations on completing the Guardian Challenge!

 

[FlowersandPetals]

Congratulations!

 

[wjs]

Thank you for the congratulations, whether you liked the post or posted congratulations yourself.

I learned a bit this week while doing refeed. It was not difficult to cut soda from my diet, despite its long existence in my life, and it will be easy to turn away from again, though it will be a "sometimes" item in the future. Calories are still going to be difficult for me coming out of refeed, but I think I may have solved it to some degree with yogurt. The one real issue I have is water. Yep, I drink it. Yes, generally speaking I get enough. But it's boring, hence soda being a large part of my life in the past. Also, it doesn't go well with some things for my palate. I'll figure it out. I always do.

The workout:
Ten Calf Raises
Upper Body Blast challenge Day 1, five sets of 30 Biceps Extensions with 30 seconds rest between
Five minutes in the Pits, unarmed

 

[Laura Rainbow Dragon]

Also, it doesn't go well with some things for my palate.

Drink between meals?

 

[wjs]

Drink between meals?

That is my usual MO with respect to water. And I have found some things I didn't think would work with water actually did. However, it turns out I wasn't wrong about some other foods. So I do my best, but again, the biggest problem I have is that it has no taste*.









*Water that has a taste to it, good or bad, has chemicals in it, whether it be passive fruit or vegetable flavor** or something less tasty and potentially harmful.
**Lemon or cucumber, for example. There are plenty of other options here.

 

[Laura Rainbow Dragon]

That is my usual MO with respect to water. And I have found some things I didn't think would work with water actually did. However, it turns out I wasn't wrong about some other foods. So I do my best, but again, the biggest problem I have is that it has no taste*.

I disagree with your claim that water has "no taste". The taste is not as strong as the sugary sodas you are used to. But if water had no taste, you would have no problem drinking it with food. (The taste effect would be the same as drinking nothing at all.) The fact that you find water "doesn't go with" certain foods is evidence that you are tasting something in that water.

As a lifelong water drinker, I can assure you water does have a taste. And, unless you are drinking distilled water, your water has elements in it other than H2O. I grew up drinking artesian well water from limestone aquifers. It's very hard water, which to me is delicious! The water was also unchlorinated back in my youth. Soft water tastes bad to me. Including distilled water! Yup. I dislike the flavour of pure water. Water with no calcium in it tastes wrong to me.

The town in which I grew up had a stagnant human population for I think about 12 years. This was very unusual for its location on the fringe of the GTA (Greater Toronto Area). The reason for the stagnation was our water supply, which was maxed out. This was a huge bone of contention for many years. Local businesses wanted the town to grow. But this could not happen unless water was piped in from Lake Ontario. Trust me: people who are accustomed to drinking artesian well water from limestone aquifers do not want Lake Ontario water mixed into their water supply! Blech! Hence the standoff. Eventually the problem was solved by establishing a separate supply of water for the new subdivisions. Those of us on the old side of town got to keep our artesian well water. But the newbies had to drink Lake Ontario water. The taste difference was very noticeable!

Even some tea drinkers notice the difference in taste due to the nature of the water from which their tea is made.

 

[wjs]

I appreciate the clarification of GTA, I would have been incredibly confused trying to figure out how you were living in Grand Theft Auto. Ha, jokes.

While I do not directly dismiss or refute your claims, my background in chemistry allows me to add context. Sure, with enough concentration, chemicals such as calcium carbonate* do affect taste, but rarely are they at that level in most municipal water supplies. Fluoridation and chlorination are also generally done at and/or filtered to a concentration that one should not be tasting them. It's also true that artesian wells can have chemicals at levels that they can be tasted. I had iron in my water when I lived in northern Minnesota as a child. All that said, my issue with water and some foods is less the flavor of the water and more one of two things: 1) the dilution of the flavor of the food** or 2) the texture changes as a result of water instead of other potential options. Example: popcorn. Because of the oil used, whether vegetable oil, butter, or some other fatty substance, water gives my mouth a particular feeling that I don't particularly enjoy when eating popcorn. However, most carbonated drinks I like do go along with it, because the carbonation breaks up the oils in addition to the flavors which help mitigate any overly oily tastes. The taste of water only really comes into play for drinking it on its own. Well, for me anyway. I know people who will argue water makes meals bad because of its taste*** alone.

The workout:
Twenty Calf Raises
Upper Body Blast challenge Day 2, three sets of 10 Shoulder Taps and a ten-count Plank Hold with no rest
Two sets of Prowler










*AKA limestone.
**Generally leading to a blander experience, though not always.****
***Or lack thereof, I guess?
****Capsaicin.

 

[Laura Rainbow Dragon]

I appreciate the clarification of GTA, I would have been incredibly confused trying to figure out how you were living in Grand Theft Auto. Ha, jokes.

People use initialisms on DAREBEE I have to look up all the time! I assume people where I live understand what I mean by "GTA". People in the world at large, not so much.

While I do not directly dismiss or refute your claims, my background in chemistry allows me to add context. Sure, with enough concentration, chemicals such as calcium carbonate* do affect taste, but rarely are they at that level in most municipal water supplies. Fluoridation and chlorination are also generally done at and/or filtered to a concentration that one should not be tasting them.

Wow. You are drinking water much more highly filtered than what comes out of our taps! I can absolutely taste the difference between lake water and limestone aquifer water--and I am talking municipal water supplies here, not backyard wells. Ditto for chlorination. I can taste it. In municipal tap water. Different brands of bottled water taste differently from one another to me too. One place I lived I had to use a Britta filter on my tap water or I couldn't drink it at all, the water tasted so bad to me. (That place was only half an hour's drive from where I grew up, where my parents still had a house. When I had a car, I would drive to my parents' house on my day off and fill a big camping water jug from their tap, and take that back home to drink throughout the week. I'll take limestone-hardened water over Britta-filtered any day!)

The taste of water only really comes into play for drinking it on its own.

This is how I drink water. I don't really drink while eating. After eating, to clean my mouth out, sure. But not interspersed with putting food in my mouth. The food itself has plenty of water in it.

****Capsaicin.

Okay. Now I want to know what you deleted from your previous comment that pertained to this note. I am a big lover of capsaicin! My one exception to not drinking with food is that I have sometimes had to take mouthfuls of water to cool the burn. In which case I would deliberately hold the water in my mouth for a long time. Because it only works to soothe the capsaicin burn while it's in one's mouth. As soon as one swallows, the water is gone, but the capsaicin remains.

Your description of eating popcorn reads like more of an argument against eating popcorn than one against drinking water. It sounds like it's the popcorn you don't like! You want something to alter the flavour of the popcorn. But since the oils it's cooked in are also (like capsaicin) hydrophobic, water doesn't do that for you.

 

[wjs]

Okay. Now I want to know what you deleted from your previous comment that pertained to this note. I am a big lover of capsaicin! My one exception to not drinking with food is that I have sometimes had to take mouthfuls of water to cool the burn. In which case I would deliberately hold the water in my mouth for a long time. Because it only works to soothe the capsaicin burn while it's in one's mouth. As soon as one swallows, the water is gone, but the capsaicin remains.

Your description of eating popcorn reads like more of an argument against eating popcorn than one against drinking water. It sounds like it's the popcorn you don't like! You want something to alter the flavour of the popcorn. But since the oils it's cooked in are also (like capsaicin) hydrophobic, water doesn't do that for you.

I deleted nothing from my previous post, it was all my footnotes*. I noted the dilution of flavor as one reason I'm often, but not always, not a fan of water with food, which footnoted to mentioning a generally blander experience, though not always, which in turn footnoted to simply "capsaicin". Mostly because water ultimately doesn't do much in the long run with capsaicin for exactly your reasons outlined.

As for popcorn, I really like it. One of my favorite things it to get a mouthful of popcorn and add some soda** and feel the carbonation react with the popcorn and associated oils. Of course, that's a sometimes, more like rarely, thing for me now. Not much popcorn in the apartment and no soda at all. Something, something, limiting the not so good stuff.










*My tricky, tricky footnotes.***
**Or pop, if one prefers.
***Like tricksy hobbitses, or something.

 

[Laura Rainbow Dragon]

As for popcorn, I really like it. One of my favorite things it to get a mouthful of popcorn and add some soda** and feel the carbonation react with the popcorn and associated oils. Of course, that's a sometimes, more like rarely, thing for me now.

Ah. So it is that you are looking for drinks that somehow enhance the food-in-mouth experience. (Whereas I eat and drink separately. But I understand the concept. I am a cook, after all!)

Not much popcorn in the apartment and no soda at all. Something, something, limiting the not so good stuff.

*My tricky, tricky footnotes.***

I see it now. My bad. (My eyesight is not what it used to be. Or maybe I was just tired this morning? I read and re-read your post and still didn't see it then!)

**Or pop, if one prefers.

Yes, "pop" in Canada. Or "soft drink". Growing up I would have called it a "fizzy drink". But I think that is the Brit in me. (I emigrated right before my 3rd birthday. So I grew up speaking an amalgam of British and Canadian and to this day sometimes still get confused as to which is which.)

 

[wjs]

I am glad we finally were able to get to an understanding @Laura Rainbow Dragon. It took some time, but I believe that was time well spent. Of course, if I had just waited to answer the first time instead of push something out quickly yesterday morning, it probably would have been a smoother ride. For that I apologize to you.

Small aside: I sneezed a headache into existence. Not. Fun.

The workout:
Thirty Calf Raises
Upper Body Blast challenge Day 3, five sets of 30 Biceps Extensions with 30 seconds rest between
Two sets of Posture Perfect