If it ain't broke, don't fix it ... but I did

[Clyde69]

What started as a small experiment had a much bigger impact than I could have ever imagined.

Two decades of being self-neglect in regards to physical activities, quite some drug abuse and strong medications resulted in feeling like a wreck, no drive, starting and ending each day like a zombie, no fun, no gain, no nothing.

But, one day, an idea came up, still not sure where it originated from. I've just started a trial with some daily probiotics for a few weeks (won't name an exact product here, but feel free to DM me ). And since then, everything has changed, even colleagues noticed this change, it was ... huuuuuuge. Granted, took a few weeks, but at least the zombish feeling started to fade, was communicating again, sunshine on the horizon, the beautiful sides of life became visible again

And this wasn't the end, this effect evolved, and evolved, and evolved with feeling better from day to day .... and suddenly, out of the blue, my body demanded ..... physical activity. "What the?" was my first thought, really, no joke, couldn't believe what I've just "heard" So I dug out a pair of old dull dumbbells and started some bicep, tricep and deltoid workout, without any actual plan, but this didn't really matter .... it felt soooo good ..... but also feeling both ashamed and full of guilt, for treating myself like shit for all those years.

A few weeks later, a colleague mentioned darebee.com .... and here I am, roughly a 6 weeks into doing daily, planned workouts, and I like it, I like it a lot, both overall content and the community as well Still on my journey into getting back into shape, but I will continue, for sure, regardless of the pain

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My current "bookmarks" so far (btw., thx darebee team for allowing us to add custom bookmarks ):
- Monday, Wednesday, Friday: Upper body days. Some PPL A/B, chest & core/back, daybreak, and my favorite of course: I do not Yield
- Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday: Lower body days. Again, some PPL A/B, brute + sculpted legs, and my "pain is fun" workout: Hall of fame
- Sunday: Resting, mostly, depending on my week as a software dev. and what will be up next week.
Every now and then, depending on both level of exhaustion and personal mood, cardio like Cross+ or 10min Streamline.

Latter is to be extended next spring - at least that's the plan - with getting back into walking and running.
Also on the list, with some high priority: Getting back into doing daily Tai Chi ... also died a 2 decades ago Looking for a good local teacher still, and my previous shifu is on a break, darn.

Not sure if I will do a daily/weekly log here, but, enough for today, workout's calling

 

[Anek]

Hello and welcome!

 

[Mamatigerj]

Welcome!

 

[Fremen]

Welcome

 

[Tileenah]

welcome !

 

[Clyde69]

A two goals reached already which I'm quite proud of:

First, a major, finally found a willing Tai Chi teacher. But not sure yet if his style of teaching will resonate with me or not, first lesson next week, fingers crossed.

Second, a minor more or less, after only being able seeing the ground for weeks, way out of reach, I can finally touch it again with "all 5"

Didn't expect this to occur so fast after such a long break from everything, but glad to be able again and slowly getting back to my previous mobility when doing regular martial arts. Next on the list, getting my palms down there again And yes, all the other integral parts like inner thighs and hips are also progressing well

Thank you all for your warm welcome, still hyped for being here

 

[Shoe]

Welcome and congrats on getting your fingers to the ground again!

 

[aku-chan]

 

[Clyde69]

A few days with a cold and it feels like you've been set back a 2+ weeks ..... exhausted like after just a few push-ups and finishing the 3rd set was hell
But, something like that won't stop me, not again, I'm a happy bee

 

[Clyde69]

First day with getting back into Tai Chi, and the 2 hours were all fun .... even if my shoulders are starting to hurt due to the unusual range of movement .... but not my legs, the lower body PPL workouts have served well
Looking forward to next session .... and even received some "homework" which I can do and study to shorten the time.

 

[Clyde69]

I am still thankful that I started this experiment. Even if I get a setback here and there, have overdone it again and damn the sore muscles the next day .... the experiment is still a lot of fun, full of surprises.

My Tai Chi course is becoming more and more fun every time, my Shifu is simply amazing, and all the people in the course are super nice too
I would love to do it several times a week if the other times weren't so inappropriate. An intensive weekend is offered here and there, but I don't yet know whether it is suitable for my "newbie level", course content and teaching style are completely different to what I was used to back then, and goes much deeper.

That being said, a new fun-fact raised a few days ago, heard some rusty gears starting to turn ... gears that I had completely ignored over the years and was no longer aware that they even still existed ... gears with a pretty impressive inscription: “Clyde, stop smoking”. Wow, just wooooow They're still spinning slowly, but they're spinning! And are gaining momentum, albeit in small increments. Will be a difficult task for sure, but I'm a happy bee

 

[Clyde69]

After replacing of my Xiaomi Band 7 Pro tracker with a more advanced Garmin Venu 3 yesterday, I tracked my first activity today: Less is more (as described in First time real push ups in my life - goal).
Just selected a simple weight training in the menu w/o adding any additional details, started and paused accordingly as I did my 5 kneewbie sets, synced my watch ... and was shocked ... what the

This little movement of my wrist was enough to detect the type of exercise I made? Astonishing
Granted, a few errors here and there, the no. of sets, reps and resting is wrong, but haven't "tuned" any settings yet, just plain "factory". But not sure yet if I can teach it to detect those holds too, we'll see And of course, other types with my regular workouts.

But besides this, sampling HR was (near) perfect and met expectations, good data to work with in future:


All in all, nice pre-birthday present, and doing exercises will be even more fun now .... speaking of, back to work

 

[Clyde69]

This little movement of my wrist was enough to detect the type of exercise I made? Astonishing
Granted, a few errors here and there, the no. of sets, reps and resting is wrong, but haven't "tuned" any settings yet, just plain "factory". But not sure yet if I can teach it to detect those holds too, we'll see And of course, other types with my regular workouts.

No luck as of now in regards to auto-detection .... even if it's great with basic workout types, it could be better. But some options avail still, like custom workout plans which I can define beforehand, even if using their UI is <pieeeep>. Maybe some export/import magic can do the trick ... I'm a sw-dev who loves to dissect file formats

But at least, one can edit a recorded workout at any time .... changing/adding or removing invalid workout types, reps, weight, rest time ..... which I did with all my workouts for this week so far, and I do like the presentation

.... besides order with last on top instead on the bottom ... and wrong no. of sets as recordings can't group multiple workouts into a full set, in contrast to this custom workout plans thingy which allows for such.

But a good start overall, and should suffice as a training log .... for now .... me evolving .... still

 

[Clyde69]

After I switched to the non-inclined kneewbie version of "Less is more" as planned after mastering the dumbbell-assisted variation, I've been stuck at 3 repetitions for a week now, too bad Do hope increasing the weight with "Dumpbell Triceps" helps to leave it.

At least my Google sheet shows some good progress with other exercises in regards to increased workout volumes ... and my Tai Chi, gosh, lovin' it, great progress too and about to become a TAO member .... I'm a happy bee