NEW VIDEO: I Quit MMOs and THIS Happened
.jpeg.fe06ae15e294b0b93acef39807cd5c1a.jpeg)
TheNewMe2.0
-
Posts
1,631 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Posts posted by TheNewMe2.0
-
-
On 10/11/2023 at 12:02 AM, Grogu said:
Entry 13:
Hi everyone, I've been away here for a while. After my vacation in September, I decided to journal on my own to express my thoughts without limits. I use a life changing system called "Second Brain", which helped me to decide what I really wanted in my life. It is a complete system that includes daily tasks, journals, goals, projects, and more. I specifically used Thomas Frank's "The Ultimate Second Brain".
Anyways, things are good but everyday is a work in progress. I'm still dealing with anxieties and procrastination, but I think I found a better way of coping it. I used "Urge Surfing" now to try and combat the strong force in my mind which is called "resistance" by Steven Pressfield's book "The War of Art". I use it to avoid procrastination and to keep surfing from the urges of changing tasks, if the task on hand is difficult. To keep surfing as well from the urges to relapse in video games addiction, and to mindless scrolling or watching useless videos.
My whole September was fun and mostly spent my time with my SO and friends. I realized that I haven't been hanging out with friends for a very long time, and hanging out with them again just filled my heart with so much joy and love. I'll try to schedule a time with friends atleast once a month, to hang out and to catch up. I mean, there is no better feeling than laughing and talking with the people you care about.
After my vacation ended in the last week of September, I struggle to be back on my usual habits, so some of my daily rituals and habits were not implemented, also the anxieties and procrastination were back. So, I have to adjust everyday and keep on improving my well-being since the start of October.
As of the moment, things are better but there are still more things to improve on. For the future, I'll be back posting here from time to time, maybe it will be a weekly ritual. I also would like to apologize to @TheNewMe2.0 and @Amphibian220 for the very late replies.Hi, I think I heard of it but I haven't tried it yet. May I ask which CBT workbook works for you?
I think I have this addictive personality; I can get easily addicted to everything that can numb life. Anything from social media, youtube, and even unhealthy snacks, If I have them on my computer or phone, I cannot stop myself to use them to procrastinate, and to avoid work. I tried using "Unhook" which blocks most of the addictive features of youtube and just use it for learning and self improvement. But, I still easily get stuck in the rabbit hole, especially when I'm in emotional crisis or days which I have anxieties.
Right now, I've blocked youtube to my phone and computer, I still plan to use them in the future but I'll be really intentional on what I'll watch. On TV's, I still watch shows and movies that I love, especially starwars and marvel shows. But I try to schedule them on my calendar when I don't have deadlines and I'm free to relax. Yes, an episode a day wouldn't hurt. 😄Hi, with regards to being interesting, I didn't have much progress yet but I think it all boils down on what habits you're interested in. I think reading non-fiction, engaging in habits, and learning different topics that I've been interested in, sometimes help in engaging conversation with people. I also try to avoid thinking about what to say and what I shouldn't say. I learned that I have more anxiety in a conversation if I think about not being awkward and watching all my moves all the time. I instead just talk my heart out, but ofcourse, I also feel the conversation and being empathetic of the person I'm engaging with.
I still need more practice, I'm a massive introvert and also I'm just working from my home so engaging conversation is very difficult to me. One solution I've been thinking is joining English-practice discord channels, as most of the people there just want to practice speaking, so engaging with them wouldn't be so difficult I believe, and there is also less friction when leaving a call, so practicing there would be helpful.
Also, being confident is trusting yourself that you're gonna achieve what you want, not just the things you want, but also the skills you want to improve in the future.
Thank you @TheNewMe2.0, and @Amphibian220 for these conversations, I appreciate you both!
Ohh, I did some CBT workbook by harbinger, but it wasn't even all that popular I think it was good at teaching me about anxiety though. I also read CBT made simple which is more popular.
-
1
-
-
I wish I had more energy. I just tend to get tired and recluse often. Most activities involving exposure to other people will tire me out and make me mad or stressed.
Maybe it's my freeze trauma response causing me to feel unsafe around others. Reclusing and looking for connection in the safety of online relationships where I can run away easily. YEah maybe that's it. Maybe the solution is to just work with it. Drop in on meetups where I can very easily disappear to another meetup. Keep my distance from people I have to see normally in real life 🙂 I mean aside from my partner of course or other people who're in the inner circle. They need regular interaction.
What I'm saying is I wanna cancel my hangout with my dentist. I'm in that fight or flight response mode right now wanting to run away from our hangout scheduled this Saturday. Very scary stuff. Ahhhhhhh 0_0 Okay I'll give it a try. But I'm pretty sure this isn't gonna go well for me and I'll end up feeling very tired and I should just cancel it now. Forget it. The last two hangs I did with people I felt the same way and it didn't go well and I was exhausted and eventually just stopped hanging with them anyways while having a good two weeks to recover from how draining that was for me. I mean maybe this persons fine as my dentist I don't know maybe I should just bail I'm scared .
Also having two journals is different not sure if I'm into it
-
1
-
-
I'm good on the gaming front indefinitely. I just have to remember to not be getting too absorbed with new friends that encourage me to game with them. Just let them know politely I don't play video games or I don't game. But I can chat with you about your games and support your doing it if it's your thing.
Yeah.
Om, otherwise. I guess that my cutting's not making any crazy progress. Which means I either have to fast, eat less, do cardio or all three. Hehe. Yoga doesn't really burn that many calories. But it dramatically increases my mind body connection which allows me to be conscious of when I'm full. Increasing my ability to moderate and eat less when I want to.
I mean my diets been very clean. My SO came back from france with authentic french pastries so I kinda had to eat one haha. That's not something I would've done if she weren't here. I'll maybe have like 5g sugar from those macaron's every 2-3 days till they're gone. Still hoping that Halloween party goes well and all this cutting this month will have been well worth it. 🙂
Inspired by @FDRx7 I'm doing an A/B style upper body workout now so I can reduce exercises per workout while still hitting everything I want to hit. It looks like this:
Upper A:
Bench
SS: Dip, Pull up
Low Cable Row
Curl
Upper B:
SS: Dip, Pull up
Seated db press
SS: curl, skull crusher
Lower's the same both days just goblet squat db lunge db calf raise weighted back ext and plank. The planks have amazingly helped my core get way stronger and better. So I'm glad I met that PT who told me to swap sit up for plank. ❤️
Ugh I feel this routine's finally good and I'm thankful for it coming together. phew S2 Gratitude all around pew pew ❤️
I weighed in at 175lbs today which I think is just because the LAF scale's 5lbs lighter than my home scale. I wonder which one's more accurate but it's fine I'll just keep using the LAF scale till I get my home scale back later. Then I can compare.
I'm hoping I can stay at 175lbs during this cutting cycle. Because losing muscle sucks hahaha. I'm getting stronger on all my lifts steadily so I figure I should be able to maintain at 175 lbs and actually do some minor lean bulking. Definitely will need cardio on tuesday saturday next week with my calorie restriction to make my goal happen. 7-9% bodyfat by Oct 31st.
-
1
-
-
Alright after reading t nations disc I urge on cutting and bulking I've realized I should just screw getting lean for now and wear a shirt to the party hehe
Typing on this tablet is hard and slow and h3avy agh
I'll try to swipe type instead yeah typing on here is hard yeah thanks @FDRx7for the website recs
-
1
-
-
18 hours ago, wheatbiscuit said:
Oh gee, uh, wisdom, yeah. Aside from YouTube, I frequented bodybuilding.com and t-nation (both had humorous articles and posts on their forums). I really mostly felt my way through movements, but what I slowly learnt was to perform them deliberately and proudly, not just for a pump or to lift massively. There were also Scooby1961's videos on YouTube. I thought he was good-natured and harmless (compared to some others).
Getting all nostalgic about those main years of learning. 🥲
Awe that's so awesome. Scooby did have some good videos I saw on just staying healthy. Thanks for the good reminder to just keep things controlled and slow with a good ROM. Are you at that point where you just feel like, you know enough to handle everything for the time being? I'm kind of feeling that way. The phys tp and yoga stuff I do is working well and I feel healthy overall. I kind of just read more or watch more stuff to learn random things. Like just to enjoy learning as the routine's going good. No need to learn new routines or exercises or whatever
-
On 10/6/2023 at 10:29 AM, FDRx7 said:
I'm 29, about to be 30 soonish. I think eating enough helps. I do think sometimes I could drop a few accessory movements or an extra set here or there, but for the most part it's been working. I do need to be careful of overtraining though and will take time to deload or just a full week off now and then (somewhere after 6-12 weeks of consistent training).
Good point with the de load and I'm glad you're doing well stamina wise. I think I tend to go pretty hard at each exercise plus I'm just transitioning from home gym to real gym the past month. So doing 5 is good for me right now and I like having energy for cardio/yoga after too. We got this 😄
Yea I'll have to keep track of de-load weeks. I'd prefer to do it preventative than just being forced to do it cause you're too tired. I'll probably de-load around the first week of November or something. It's a good reminder.
-
1
-
-
On 10/3/2023 at 12:06 PM, FDRx7 said:
I used to have rep ranges from somewhere between 6-15 depending on the exercise (i.e., 6-8, 8-10, 10-12, or 12-15) but I've been feeling lately I need more hypertrophy, that the lower rep range isn't fitting my current goals. So right now, everything is somewhere between 10-15 reps.
This is:
Lower A
4x10-12 Front Squat
4x10-12 Hip Thrust
3x12-15 Lying Leg Curl
3x12-15 Leg Extension
4x12-15 Seated Barbell Calf Raise
2x12-15 Reverse Circle Step (Cable)
4x10-15 Cable Crunch
3x10-15 Cable Leg Raise
Upper A
4x10-12 Dumbbell Bench Press
4x10-12 Seated Cable Row
3x12-15 Singe-arm Cable Press-around
3x12-15 Close-grip Lat Pulldown
2x12-15 Lateral Raise (Cable)
3x10-12 Tricep Cable Kickback
2x12-15 Reverse Curl (Cable)
2x12-15 Reverse Fly (Cable
2xMax Deficit Pushup
Lower B
4x10-12 Romanian Deadlift
3x12-15 Bulgarian Split Squat
3x12-15 Seated Leg Curl
4x12-15 Cable Calf Raise
4x12-15 Dumbbell Pullover (actually using as a core exercise, believe it or not)
3xMax Ab Wheel Rollouts
2x12-15 Glute Kickbacks
Upper B
4x10-12 Lat Pulldowns (these were pullups but taking a bit of a break from those)
4x10-12 Standing Overhead Barbell Press
3x12-15 Bent Over One Arm Dumbbell Row
4x10-12 Incline Bench Press (Barbell)
3x12-15 Cable Crossover
3x10 Gundill's Shrug (superset, essentially)
4x10-12 Bicep Barbell Curl
3x12-15 Tricep Rope Pushdown
3x12-15 Barbell Shrug
I'm 5'11" (1.8m) 180lbs. (82ish kg) right now. Would like to maybe put on another 20lbs and see how that looks/feels but I don't want to go too crazy. If your muscles become too big, they become form over function and your body is less agile (in my opinion). To me, it's about balance. So, it's fine that it's slow-going. That's how muscle is built anyways. My lowest weight ever was when I was studying abroad in 2014. I weighed about 135lbs. (61 kg). I made the biggest progress when I was eating right, but I've been stuck at my current weight for a long time because I haven't been eating as much. That's something I'm addressing in my daily journal, as I'm beginning to rectify it. But you can see that long term it works. I put on 45lbs. (20ish kg) over the years and could have done more if I paid better attention to my diet since 2020. Not all of that is muscle, but most of it is.
How old are you if you don't mind my asking? This is a a lot of exercises per workout so you must be young or just have good endurance. I'm 35 and if I do as much as 7 exercises in a workout that day I can't be doing any yoga or cardio after usually
-
1
-
-
On 10/3/2023 at 5:06 PM, Vee said:
Thanks - I stole the star rating idea from @FDRx7!
There isn't anything specific I want to work towards, but because I've always struggled with leaving the house I know it's affect my health, functioning and capacity for fun. If it feels like there are multiple obstacles to something, I'm far less likely to engage with it. E.g. going to an aerial fitness class is scary by itself, but made more difficult by the nearest one being two bus rides away.
Thanks! I felt like I needed to define the ratings, as my focus areas aren't clear cut. I also wanted to have 5/5 be aspirational rather than a goal I'm supposed to hit. It isn't plausible right now for me to get 5/5 on any of them daily, but it helps me remember it is possible, and to aim for that occasionally.
Re short stories: they definitely come more naturally to me than longer pieces! I want to submit my good ones to magazines, but I keep putting it off.
Today
It's now 16 days of not gaming!
I did a decent amount of writing today, but I spent a lot of today just angsting about volunteering. I spent the two hours before it just lying down in bed. But the volunteering session was good! It was basically a drama/social club for people with learning disabilities, and I chatted a bit to them, although I didn't feel very useful. I'm going to go there weekly now, and possibly look at the other clubs they do.
I think having herbal tea last night helped me get to sleep quicker, so I'm going to continue doing that.
Writing: ★★★★☆
Wrote about 1700 words. Not sure I'm happy with what I wrote, but I keep reminding myself it's just a first draft.
Eating: ★★★★☆
Ate three meals, although the timing was pretty random - 10am, 4pm, 9.30pm. I'm not keen on eating this late, but the volunteering time was awkward.
Leaving the house: ★★★★★
Volunteering for the first time (for this charity) was definitely out of my comfort zone! If I was retroactively scoring myself, the last time I pushed myself out of my comfort zone would be over two weeks ago (went to a comedy gig in another town, mostly with people I didn't know).
Tomorrow
I am curious whether I can beat my 5K time again, so I definitely want to go for a jog as it will be a bit cooler tomorrow. I also have my writing group call tomorrow and I think I'll actually share something this time. Otherwise, I don't want to push myself too much to do anything.
Hi Vee. I'm so glad you found a club you want to explore more at it sounds really fun! 🙂
Is it social anxiety that keeps you in the house? I totally work with that myself and I find that the best thing to do is to choose something that matters to me to go out for. And to make it win win like no matter what I know I'll get something good out of the experience. That helps bolster my spirits and hopefully yours too.
Good for us getting out there hehe. I'm going to a meetup on Sunday for the third time so that's awesome to be building up some consistency at this group. LMK how your club hangs go!
-
2
-
-
Hah I'm back! They reset my password and I'm pretty sure it's working now. May it stay working 🙂
Being locked out a couple days was no fun! Glad to be back posting today
Om, I gave my whole setup back to my mom. Who was happy to see me to get sushi. Man that sushi was incredible. The fatty salmon nigiri especially won me over. Omgosh it was amazing I wanna eat more but it's so fatty. Maybe when I'm bulking I'll go back 😄
That happy hour had 12$ gyu don and 7$ fatty salmon nigiri $4 cali rolls. Yep yep. I liked the salmon skin too but I'd go back and just get a gyu don and a fatty salmon. That should be good.
I don't know if I can really eat all that uch right now and I've 90% decided that I'm gonna stay benching as it just seems to work for me so I shouldn't try something else out probably that could end up hurting me heh
Just tryna be pragmatic and safe about my life now. Stay healthy get healtheir
-
On 10/4/2023 at 5:49 PM, wheatbiscuit said:
- I forgot about the daily unsaturated fats (either avocado, peanut butter or almonds/other nuts - tofu has some too). There's also a high protein(and high dietary fat), low carb bread product here that I put the eggs on.
- Did most of my learning on the internet here, so I looked busy at my computer at home maybe, dunno. Go you 😛
- It could be just as easy to get a tan in all seasons, I'd believe it of the sun here; more research needed lol
Hah that sounds nice. It snows where I live sometimes so being tan year round is not for everyone 🙂
Thank you! I do enjoy learning about wellness. I totally learned so much from youtube too. What was your main source of wisdom on training?
Those are all good things makes me want some avocado. I'm totally gonna make some like chicken tacos this weekend with guac.
-
12 hours ago, FDRx7 said:
It is tough. A long time ago, I worked out in the early morning. I don't know why I stopped. It wasn't so bad this morning once I got warmed up.
I was doing barbell when I was focusing on strength (5 rep range) but I also have a very hard time activating my chest in barbell. I can do it and know how, but my morphology makes it difficult. I have pectus excavatum (was moderate, now mild) so in order to really stimulate the chest, I require a greater cross over the body. The dumbbells allow me to bring my hands closer together to get this activation. I've made a lot of progress over the years correcting that condition. It still isn't perfect, but surprisingly bones do move. It is much less pronounced these days and most people don't even know I have it, even with my shirt off. I know because I know what I'm looking for, but I will always be like that because no one sees us like we do ourselves.
Also in the USA. I just did the kg conversion for those who might read this outside the US. I cheated and used the computer to convert lol.
To be honest, I relied a lot on nuts. They allowed me to fill in the gaps when I needed calories but they were still healthy. Even today I eat a lot of dried edamame and soaked almonds. Other than that, it was healthy foods but whatever I felt like to hit my goals. So fish, chicken, beans, rice, tofu, natto... all kinds of stuff. I like variety, though I have some staples like protein shakes and nuts to help me hit the daily goal if I can't quite get there with my other meals.
This is super interesting how db bench works better to activate your chest. I'm glad you found some way to make it work for you and improved the excavatum so much. I've been benching forever and I have to do finger push ups before every set. But, hey it works so maybe just keep it going.
A lot of people do nuts, like Rich Froning eats a lot of peanut butter as a snack. They are healthy sources of macros. I'm usually just drinking milk all the time. I've loved milk since I was a kid and make sure to have a gallon in the fridge at all times 🙂
Yay go USA lol. Good to see your morning routine's working. There was a fire alarm last night or I would've gotten to bed earlier. I got this tonight! Are you training at a gym or home gym?
I find the energy at the gym is way more relaxing in the morning it's the whole reason why I started getting up earlier in the first place. I have insomnia so I have to do a lengthy sleep routine so I think 630am would be the earliest I could possibly get up.
I'm on that lean mean veggies fruit and whole grains diet right now. I kind of like it, but it's also just so, not decadent? Lol. I think I miss strawberry cheesecake, fatty steak and buttered mashed potatoes. What're your comfort foods? 😛
-
1
-
-
11 hours ago, BooksandTrees said:
Yeah I'm gonna make it a fun journey where he builds as a person and understands how to be a friend and what love is. I enjoy those growth stories. Lol don't get abducted by aliens down there.
Yea maybe all the aliens aren't as friendly as they are in your book (o_O). I would like to get superpower enhancements via alien technology implants though please.
Love the character development in your story. I really enjoy those books, they make me feel like I'm learning along with the characters
-
1
-
-
14 hours ago, wheatbiscuit said:
It's literally also been all whole-grains and eggs/canned mackerel with 1 vegetable-only meal, and either a protein shake or just another protein-dense food (like tofu) if it wasn't a gym day. But I have two mental health diagnoses under my belt, which on the plus side, usually means I enjoy routine and experience each 'average' day differently than the last.
Going jogging while shirtless was always something I considered expanding my comfort zone with, but haven't done. Yep, calorie counting/'if it fits your macro(nutrient)s (grams of protein/carbohydrates/fats consumed daily or weekly) was what I worked with during my first Summer out of high school, but when I got busy again, I either ate a lot or barely anything.
I don't remember how long I stuck with a diet before excluding another 500 calories, but I think it was 3-4 weeks that season.
That's such a serious nutrition plan woah! 😮 And I thought I ate like a monk when I'm cutting. I mean I'm about to eat brown rice sushi and tuna salad sandwich on whole wheat. Or PB and Fruit on whole wheat. Awe crap I already ate my banana woops. Well I mean no wonder you were getting lean and muscular on that diet. There's so little junk food it's all healthy carbs, fat and protein.
This is my first time cycling cutting and bulking inspired by reading through a few fitness books this year. I have to say I'm really enjoying being intense about cutting for just a month right now. I actually love putting the chocolate away and looking to eat as clean as possible every meal. It's because I know it's not permanent. That next month I'll be happily eating pad thai again 😄
Running shirtless could be a lot of fun. I did it before, but I'm really not into running the elliptical is much more conducive to my goals. But if you wanna go for the shirtless jog go for it! You'll get a tan and cardio at the same time, what a deal. Speaking of which I'm gonna hit up the pool just to lay out and tan if I can. How does one get tan in the Fall season anyway?
I guess I could try jogging shirtless on the field near my house. Or even just walking
hey what're your diagnoses? I got two as well
-
1
-
-
16 hours ago, Vee said:
I like habit trackers because it feels more motivating when I can see my progress visually. Although I'm only tracking three things in my Game Quitters journal, I track a whole bunch of things on TickTick. I recommend it, for things that are a clear yes/no, at least. Here are my night habits to give you an idea of the visuals:
For your journal here, it really depends on what you think will help you with your goals and who you want to be. There's no need to do something just because other people do it!
How come you don't like the apartment gym?
I'm not much of a habit tracker. Thanks for your support in doing what works for me. I kind of just keep pushing myself to get to bed on time and that's about it hehe. I think anything will work as long as you have a clear goal in mind and track progress in some fashion.
I don't like the apt gym mostly because I feel uncomfortable when people are walking by looking through the glass door at me training. Also it's just a lot smaller with less equipment. I mostly went to the gym last night to use the roman chair to keep my low back healthy. The rest of the stuff is just like getting to do my hobby more fully. Nice job with your habits. I'm trying to get in bed to do my sleep routine by 915pm now.
Sleeping's a challenge heh. What is it that keeps you up at night?
-
Yay it's the funnest journal ever muahahaha >: D
Ommmm I didn't gym today because I had a dental appt in the morning instead.
It's cool though. The beauty of working out in the morning is that if I miss it I can make it up that day in the evening. No missed days!
Although I should probably intentionally miss a whole week at some point to just rest and recover. I'll just like take lots of walks and yoga flows instead. Sounds like a laid back week.
Yea so I'm thinking instead of gym I'll use my apartment gym tonight. Even though I don't like it as much....yea forget it I'll just go to my main gym. The elipticals are calling my name 😛
Fat loss and muscle gain come slow so I'll try to keep at it. It'd be cool to tryout the fancy habit trackers I see everyone having on here. I do it all with not much more than memory. I have a good memory though and that seems to help it stay sharp. Of course tracking would be more accurate. My memory doth not beat a computers.
Right bulma's back (call my partner bulma on here) thursday. Cool phew. I miss that girl a lot. Darn. I can feel those sort of urges spiking whenever she leaves. They calm down though after I meditate and watch some shonen. That always works for me. Sometimes it takes a few rounds though heh.
Right I'm feeling good about all my grinds now. I'm hoping a db bench will be easier on my joints since I have to do a ton of extra warmup before barbell bench. If I could just do a normal warmup for db bench then I could get a lot more sets done. That'd be sweet for hypertrophy. Ugh I miss the gym. That's a good thing though. When I was going like 5 days or more a week I would not want to go and have to push myself in the door. Which really made it miserable.
4 days a week program now is so much better and I'm not as tired. I really miss the gym and can't wait to get back in there when my active days come up. I also super love the rest days where I get to just socialize, eat, watch anime and read more! Walk, stretch foam roll chug water. Chugging lots of water is so underrated. It's a great feeling! lol.
I'm so grateful today for still being able to do decline situps and eliptical training. Despite all kinds of weird sports injuries over the years I'm still able to do these which help my stomach look much better. So thanks for that. yep 🙂
Games feel like no problem today, but gotta stay vigilant on all that. I'll send the comp back with mom later this week so it's not just in the hallway closet with me. That's not good. I find that temptation is best far far out of arms reach if I want to stay vigilant.
Om, the other thing is. I feel like temptation for things can be completely gone for me. But then some trigger arises: new friends are pushing me to game with them. Or I see or talk with really attractive girls and it makes me get very aroused. That's when the poop has hit the fan. And all the recovery all the little actions and abstinences add up to spiraling out of control. Or engaging ninja grit and riding out the urges. So it's basically like 3-6 months of zero temptation building up discipline. And one random moment in time happens and it's like a level 9/10 temptation that needs to be resisted with all my might.
So gotta just stay in shape in and out of season. Never know when I'll have to battle temptation. For me this means no staring at girls, keeping gaming equipment out of my home, no swearing, no substances. Keep doing my routines for exercise and spiritual practice. That's about all it takes. hehehe it's easier done than said!
-
2
-
-
Hey this is really cool. Also you're doing so good getting up at 6am moving towards 5am. Very inspiring. I've been a morning workout person for a couple years now. But I always just get up at 7am and I got a job that starts around 10-6pm so I can workout later in the morning. Heh. I'd love to get up earlier and will push myself to make it happen at my goal time of 645am. 🙂
It's so much nicer when the gyms empty S2. No lines for anything.
-
1
-
-
2 hours ago, FDRx7 said:
I used to have rep ranges from somewhere between 6-15 depending on the exercise (i.e., 6-8, 8-10, 10-12, or 12-15) but I've been feeling lately I need more hypertrophy, that the lower rep range isn't fitting my current goals. So right now, everything is somewhere between 10-15 reps.
This is:
Lower A
4x10-12 Front Squat
4x10-12 Hip Thrust
3x12-15 Lying Leg Curl
3x12-15 Leg Extension
4x12-15 Seated Barbell Calf Raise
2x12-15 Reverse Circle Step (Cable)
4x10-15 Cable Crunch
3x10-15 Cable Leg Raise
Upper A
4x10-12 Dumbbell Bench Press
4x10-12 Seated Cable Row
3x12-15 Singe-arm Cable Press-around
3x12-15 Close-grip Lat Pulldown
2x12-15 Lateral Raise (Cable)
3x10-12 Tricep Cable Kickback
2x12-15 Reverse Curl (Cable)
2x12-15 Reverse Fly (Cable
2xMax Deficit Pushup
Lower B
4x10-12 Romanian Deadlift
3x12-15 Bulgarian Split Squat
3x12-15 Seated Leg Curl
4x12-15 Cable Calf Raise
4x12-15 Dumbbell Pullover (actually using as a core exercise, believe it or not)
3xMax Ab Wheel Rollouts
2x12-15 Glute Kickbacks
Upper B
4x10-12 Lat Pulldowns (these were pullups but taking a bit of a break from those)
4x10-12 Standing Overhead Barbell Press
3x12-15 Bent Over One Arm Dumbbell Row
4x10-12 Incline Bench Press (Barbell)
3x12-15 Cable Crossover
3x10 Gundill's Shrug (superset, essentially)
4x10-12 Bicep Barbell Curl
3x12-15 Tricep Rope Pushdown
3x12-15 Barbell Shrug
I'm 5'11" (1.8m) 180lbs. (82ish kg) right now. Would like to maybe put on another 20lbs and see how that looks/feels but I don't want to go too crazy. If your muscles become too big, they become form over function and your body is less agile (in my opinion). To me, it's about balance. So, it's fine that it's slow-going. That's how muscle is built anyways. My lowest weight ever was when I was studying abroad in 2014. I weighed about 135lbs. (61 kg). I made the biggest progress when I was eating right, but I've been stuck at my current weight for a long time because I haven't been eating as much. That's something I'm addressing in my daily journal, as I'm beginning to rectify it. But you can see that long term it works. I put on 45lbs. (20ish kg) over the years and could have done more if I paid better attention to my diet since 2020. Not all of that is muscle, but most of it is.
Excellent detailed description of your training. That's a diverse portfolio of exercises there.
I'm starting to want to add some more machine work in like you're doing. Namely the lat pull, hamstring curl and leg extension. Of course that means getting up an extra 15 minutes earlier per day which is. Challenging. I need to be in bed by 915pm nightly to make that happen. Wish me luck on that lol, I haven't been able to get up earlier than 7am. It's just stayed there.
I'll checkout your journal I'd love to see how your food plan and bulking is going.
I totally agree, a bulky body can be muscle bound and prevent functional movements like in sports or even daily life tasks. My friend at the gym said he couldn't *ahem wipe his butt without help. I'll never get to that point because my girlfriend puts up with enough of my flaws as is without doing that for me lol.
Your post makes me want to give dumbbell bench press a try. Maybe it'll be easier on the shoulders then a flat bench. What's the reason you prefer it to the barbell bench?
That's awesome we basically made the same progression weight/height wise. It really does work to help gain muscle mass. Some dudes at the gym are so huge. It makes me want to get bigger. What you're saying is a healthy dose of reality in that it's not always healthy to get bigger at a certain point. I'll assess each step of the way too. Gonna try out more hypertrophy and dumbbell bench now.
What country are you in? I'm in the USA. I noticed you know how to do kilogram conversions.
What was your diet like when you were making your best progress? IE: lots of veggies or tuna?
-
7 hours ago, BooksandTrees said:
Lol she'll have that computer for 20 years. My book is about an engineer working on a space station. He doesn't like his job and has no friends in space. He plans to return to earth but has no friends there either. Through a crazy turn of events he gets abducted by aliens and becomes life long friends with them through a series of adventures.
It's gonna be a bad book but I am enjoying writing at least lol.
Oh that sounds like a really fun concept. I like how his life is just so isolative and miserable. But then gets solved by getting abducted by aliens. Creative solution. Makes me feel like it's a good metaphor for finding a new group of people to belong to. Or maybe I literally need to get abducted by aliens. *Plans next vacation to Rosewell, NM*.
Yeah that thing is operating at like 10% capacity it probably thinks this is the easy life if it could think.
-
1
-
-
12 hours ago, wheatbiscuit said:
I've been looking for work all year and only now is the process becoming more fruitful. I'm also trying to have healthier relationships with my family since giving up gaming. All that means limited dopamine hits I suppose, with less entertainment, so I'm not running around everywhere, enthusiastically flexing all day in my spare time. 😛
-- Anyway, I haven't counted calories in awhile, or focused strictly on any P/C/F target. It would probably be like 150/150/100, but I figure it's the sustained physical and mental effort too I haven't been putting in that's upped my weight a bit. Yeah, cutting. 5 medium-sized meals a day + 6 servings of vegetables (which are what, 20/20/1?) --
This all seemed easier when responsibility to society felt like just a brief, daily hurdle - since I'm chasing a passion (employment in a gym or less intense kitchen locally again), it feels like my life focus at the moment.
If it's cutting phase for you, do you happen to be heading into Summer too? I am, here in Australia.
Hahaha, I wish I had more time and energy to enthusiastically flex all the time. I'm too old for that now. 😛
I don't even know about counting calories, but that's awesome you listed those ratios out very interesting. Also dang 5 meals with 6 veggie servings a day. That's serious. Probably so healthy though.
Your description of the daily hurdle is so accurate for gaming addiction. Phew glad I'm out of it. Good luck in your passion pursuit! Seems like it would be a good fit for you either way. I wonder if you'd get bored of the gym or food? Probably not after you got used to it. I always wanted to be a personal trainer, but being a therapist just kind of fell into place for me and I love it so it's all good 🙂
We're in fall and I'm into dressing up as anime characters *ahem* shirtless if I can look good enough for it. So like that means everyone's dressing up at the end of this month for a party. And I just want to look my leanest for it. Todays my first day getting serious about the food plan. I'm like hunting for brown rice, whole wheat bread and zero sugar whenever I eat out. It makes me happy to be striving for something.
-
2
-
-
On 9/15/2023 at 7:14 AM, james1 said:
It has been 5 days since I posted last Sunday. I found the beginning of the week pretty difficult. I felt almost like I was developing a cold for a couple days and felt really tired even though I was going to bed earlier. I ended up taking a couple afternoon naps after work and going to bed at 8PM a couple nights because I couldn't focus on anything. Although I wish I had more energy and got some important tasks done instead I can consider this a win because in the past I would have turned to YouTube and not gotten the sleep I needed. It feels like I am starting to get over this feeling of fatigue but it's slow.
I have been able to stay away from YouTube all week which is good but those first days of the week when I was really tired I found myself turning to podcasts a lot more then I have in the past. I would also turn to news or anything on my phone including swiping on dating apps to fill that void of not having YouTube when I was tired and stressed. Yesterday though, I cleaned up the apps on my phone and added more blocks to try and help with this habit and found myself looking around my phone and realizing there isn't much left and putting it away.
Now that YouTube has been cut out for 9 days other things are starting to become my focus like sleep and general phone/computer usage. For my sleep I can see and improvement over the past 3 weeks in terms of getting to bed earlier and waking up earlier but it is taking some effort. I used to use a bright light on an alarm to get me out of bed and I think I will set that up tonight. In terms of general phone/computer usage I have also been making improvements I feel. One of the best things I have done with my computers is shut everything down at the end of the work day/evening to create a hard stop and kind of ritual where I tell myself I won't be looking at them until the next morning. I have felt a lot lighter without these distractions available at night. It's also helped me make sure I am more productive because I can't tell myself I will do it later tonight so I hope this can be a new habit I carry forward.
Never seen anyone do this much youtube before it seriously is an issue. I can't say I have an issue with TV but I want to cut down. Like 1.5 hours daily max. How much do you watch tv?
I basically don't watch youtube. It's too addictive for me too. Though I've learned a lot of useful things there. The most useful I learned was to stay the eff away from youtube cause it'll suck me in and make me forget about all the more important things I want to do with my life 🙂 ❤️
-
1
-
-
On 8/25/2023 at 9:43 AM, Grogu said:
Entry 1:
Detox:
94 days: Video games detox (Streak)
2 days: Social media & YouTube detox (Last streak: 40 days)Things I did right:
- A 15-minute workout after missing it for 20 days straight.
- Cleaned my room.
- Recorded my expenses for the past few days.Things I could improve:
- Scheduling my time.Reflection:
Creating a new journal entry:
I decided to create a new journal entry as I didn't like how I structured my previous entries. But they are still accessible here, I explained earlier what problems I've been dealing and feeling off even after the 90 days detox.Life after 90 days of detox:
I stated that I still feel like shit after the 90 days it is because I only improved one aspect of my life, the video games detox. But, I was still engaging in nonsense and mindless scrolling of videos to cope with the stress I've been experiencing at work. I wasn't also building the habits that I wanted to do, I was constantly in a negative state that led to burnout and unsatisfaction of life. I realized that in order to rebuild my life, I have to detox the unending addictive habits I was engrained with and at the same time I must build better habits to cope with stress, and to improve my life.Goals moving forward:
I have many things that I want to improve in my life and I'm still figuring out where to start. I want to improve and follow an everyday schedule to be intentional on what should I do, and to avoid procrastinating and overworking near the deadline. I want to learn new skills to improve my career as I've been doing the same thing over the past 6 years. I want to improve my speaking and writing skills. I want to find ways to cope with anxiety, as I've been dealing with this over the past few years. I want to be more confident and be interesting. I want to be the best version of myself, I know these goals could take time to achieve and the habits to achieve this must be done every single day. I hope there will be a time when I'll be proud of myself on what I achieved and how I transformed myself.Wish me luck.
Hey good luck. 😄
Did you checkouts CBT workbooks or worksheets? That's basically one of the best mental health things you can do for anxiety which you've probably at least heard of already. I kind of wanted to get a CBT workbook just to work on again.
What's your reason for getting off youtube?
Are you getting off like all TV as well?
I'd be so much more well read and the house would be so clean and I'd cook way more if I wasn't watching TV. Darn. Maybe I could try to limit tv to like one episode a day or something. Just to connect with others over it. Shoot. Why'd we invent TV? lol
-
2
-
-
On 9/30/2023 at 7:33 PM, BooksandTrees said:
This week was exhausting. I had to work a ton and didn't have time for hobbies. I relaxed with my wife for a while today and then we did some errands and went out for dinner. I'm starting to feel refreshed.
This leads to the issue of me wanting to catch up on lost hobby time, so the moment I feel better, I want to be productive and write or do something. But that's not realistic or fair to myself. I'm going to let myself know that I acknowledge the initiative and interest in being productive, but it's counterintuitive to do it right now.
I'll just doodle on my note pad, read, and relax more tonight. I think I can write for 30 to 60 minutes tomorrow and move on.
I also downloaded brick link studio to design lego sets. Someone on this forum used to do it a lot and I forget who it was.
Keep at those hobbies man. Just read IKIGAI and it made me a believer in doing something you love
-
2
-
-
6 hours ago, Vee said:
It's always been a struggle for me to get out of the house and I was hoping jogging would help, but it's mostly just helped me get out of the house specifically for jogging. Which is obviously good by itself, but it's a shame it isn't as transferable as I had hoped.
The weekend
I had a chill weekend - no gaming, but not much of anything else. Did a tiny bit of writing on Saturday and went for a long-ish jog. On Sunday I wrote a lot in my journal, reflecting on the past quarter. Did a bit of juggling for the first time in a few days. I also finished reading a book over the weekend, the first book I've finished since April. In my early 20s I was reading 20-30 books a year, now it's closer to 5.
Today
Continued not to game, have eaten 3 meals but most importantly...
I BEAT MY PERSONAL BEST FOR 5K! I beat it by a whole minute. I am so damn proud of myself. The amazing thing is I could have done even better - I had a 30s walk near the end that I could have skipped, and the temperature was a bit higher than I'd like as well. Not that I feel bad about it to clarify - if anything, it motivates me because I reckon I could beat my PB again very soon.
Today has been good - I woke up early (for once...), went to the supermarket, got some chores done and did a tiny bit of writing (might do some more, not sure). I also bought some herbal teas. I'm not a tea drinker, but since I've struggled to get to sleep recently, I thought I'd try to incorporate some chamomile tea into a nighttime routine, along with reading. I'm actually a little tempted to get incense or something for a ritualistic feel, but I'm sometimes sensitive to smells so I'm nervous about wasting money.
I finally got a reply from one of the volunteer places, so I'll drop by there tomorrow and see if it's suitable.
Future
At some point this year I came across the idea of having weekly and quarterly reviews, ignoring monthly, and that has really clicked with me. Thinking about things monthly often feels like a weird in-between, especially as there are only 4 weeks to a month.
I've been writing a lot in my private journal about quarterly goals, but I thought I'd specify here as well. I've set three focus areas for Oct-Dec. Although there are a bunch of other things I'd like to improve, these three are the ones I'm going to prioritise:
Writing
I've written over 20k of what I'm guessing will be a ~90k novel, so considering the time I have on my hands, it's plausible I could have a first draft by the end of the year. That would be under 6000 words a week, which felt pretty doable last week. I'm not a "must write every day" person so I don't want to set that as a habit, but I would like to move towards daily-ish. I shouldn't rely on having spurts of 3k words in a day, but 1k+ words on a regular basis is very doable.
I would also like to get back to short stories, maybe 2-4 a month. Alongside my novel, that might be less plausible.
I've started scoring each focus area 1-5 in my private journal, so I think I'll do it here too. The rough breakdown of how I'd rank various days (it's somewhat dependent on how I feel, but the time is a rough guide):
- Zero writing or anything to do with writing
- A tiny amount of writing or writing-related activity. Time dedicated to writing is less than 30 minutes and/or I've written less than 400 words. This is probably most common these days, and even then, it's usually when I make a couple of notes rather than writing.
- A reasonable amount of writing-related activity. Roughly 30m-1.5h worth of time, perhaps more if it's planning/editing.
- A good amount of writing-related activity. Roughly 1.5h-3h of time.
- An excellent amount of writing-related activity. Roughly 3h+ of time, or an excellent word count while spending less time. As I find planning/editing more frictionless, I'd be less likely to rank such activities 5/5 even if I have spent a fair amount of time on it.
Eating
The foundational area that I'm worst at. In the short term, I just want to work towards eating three meals a day consistently. Once November comes around, I want to do some cooking as well, besides just making rice and beans.
- Nothing resembling a meal - either barely eaten anything, or just snacked on sugary crap. This almost never happens as I'm very good at eating breakfast regularly.
- One meal, usually plus snacks. I'd like to turn this from a rare occurrence to a thing that never happens.
- Two meals, usually plus snacks. Currently most common.
- Three meals, usually plus snacks.
- Three meals plus "other". Eating outside of my comfort zone, or cooking outside of my comfort zone, or maybe even just eating the meals at sensible times. Maybe also eating three meals even when it is very inconvenient. Maybe only eating healthy food.
Leaving the house
Not quite as foundational as food, sleep and exercise, but close. I've been great at going for a jog, but not so great at going out for other reasons. This one is more defined by comfort zones, which I guess technically means one activity could shift from being a 5 to a 3.
- Not stepped outside at all. At the moment this is almost every day that I don't jog.
- Either spent a fair amount of time in the garden (even this can be weirdly hard sometimes), or been outside for ~5 minutes (e.g. walking our anxious dog, who can't currently go far)
- Left the house for a very familiar activity - supermarket, familiar jogging routes
- Spent over 30m in an unfamiliar (or somewhat unfamiliar) environment that is still somewhat within my comfort zone, e.g. going to town, going on a familiar train route to go to a friend's house.
- Left the house to spend time in an unfamiliar environment out of my comfort zone for over 30 minutes, e.g. kickboxing, friend's choir performance, music festival.
So today the ratings would be:
Writing: ★★☆☆☆
Wrote about 300 words, did a little research and made a few notes. Technically did spend over 30m related to it, but not in a particularly focused way.
Eating: ★★★★☆
Ate three meals! Had a ready meal for lunch and housemate cooked dinner, but I'm focusing on the actual eating part rather than being super healthy or cooking regularly.
Leaving the house: ★★★☆☆
Doing both the supermarket and a run on the same day is pretty good for me, but both were comfortable environments.
Thanks for liking my post 🙂 Nice in depth journal. Very organized even with a cool visual star rating. Sorry if you already talking about this a lost but what're you reading?
That's also very interesting practice to grow your comfort zone by spending 30m outside of it. Is there something specific you're wanting to get comfortable with or is it just like, you know it's a use it or lose it situation and the goal is to keep the comfort zone growing just to grow it? Like how people save money just to save it. <---definitely my mentality.
Dang that's impressive the novels going well and props on the 5k speed
-
1
-
The Warrior
The most desirable archetype
For me
To each their own
We can only make approximations
Based on our upbringing and natural abilities
We aren't all born into a samurai clan with one purpose:
To become a hardened warrior and serve on the battlefield
To the death
So I do what I can
I workout
I don't fight anymore
I remember how though
I'll use it if I have to
To protect myself and others
What is a modern warrior?
Everything in our own lives is subjective we can define winning for ourselves
That's what a goal is:
It's a work around for the 99.999999% of the population that
Can't win a gold medal or a PGA tour
To be a warrior for me is to sustain abstinence
From Substances, Video games and PMO
This the crux of things
Then to build a good life on the bedrock of that sobriety
Why win at a game,
When you can win at life?
I stopped playing games and I made life into a game
There was no final boss to mark victory
So I made up my main quests:
Fitness
Spiritual practice
Girlfriend
Friends
Family
Hobbies
Career
Health and beauty
This is what mattersThe Final Boss is to die well. Healthy, strong, having lived fully.
A fulfilling life I could be proud of as I breathe my last
They can sense it when I meet them
When they see me, how I shine, what my life is like
They know I have it figured out
The thing everyone is aiming for: the good life
I cut through the challenges of life like a sharpened blade
Because I sharpen myself every day
To overcome the challenges
It seemed simple enough to me
Take care of the main quests
Maintain those benefits
Then do the side quests for fun and extra benefits
I got addicted to winning at life
And I always win
Because I'm the one making the rules
I'm the game creator now
And you can't beat me =]
Suck a dick!!!!!!!
Hehehehe 😄
I want friends S2
in Daily Journals
Posted
Hah yeah bodybuilding.com
I was honestly thinking of reading Jack Lelane's live young forever book. He was jacked and healthy at age 96 still training ❤️