As usual, I went off script. I kind of combined this with day one which had a super set of bike/DB bench/pull down. Today’s session called for a mile run, five rounds of bench and pull ups, 2000m row, and five more rounds of bench and pull ups. It’s incredibly windy, my knees hurt, and running sucks so I cut that right out. I also have no rower.
ELLIPTICAL
10 min, 0.77 miles
10 Rounds
Airdyne 15 cals
Bench 135 x 10
Underhand Row 135 x 10
My 15 calories only took 15 seconds. I doubted the accuracy of my bike (compared to the new models) so I started riding for time. I ended up hitting 240 calories through the workout.
Airdyne Test
Assault bikes are supposed to burn 15 cals/min at 65 rpm and 18 cals/min at 70 rpm. I found a guy who tested three bikes by riding at 70 rpm for five minutes so I thought I’d try that.
THE RESULTS
5 min at 65 rpm = 75 calories I could maintain 65ish rpm but not 70. I kept jumping to the mid 70s. But the test worked - my bike is dead on. That makes life easier since I don’t have to do conversions for workouts.
I always wondered how the calorie thing worked on those bikes. Very cool! They seem to be an absolute staple in anything crossfitty, are they that legit?
(Skip this if you don’t want to read about my brain struggles.)
Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
That’s the first of the 10 Commandments. The first one! And I’ve violated it. I think some of you know that I’m pretty hard of myself when it comes to my physique and training accomplishments. Training is supposed to be a positive aspect of my life and I’ve turned it into a negative. I’m not happy when I look in the mirror. I punish myself for overeating. And I often think I’ve failed miserably at this pursuit because I can’t do what “I should” be able to do after this many years of training. Spending time on this site, thinking about training, and writing training programs takes up way too much of my time. My counselor but me with a pretty hard realization this past week. After telling her about all my body related issues and the time I spend thinking about training, she asked if I spent the same amount of time with God. Ouch. The answer is no.
Moving forward, my old training goals are dead. I’ve assessed my actual needs vs my wants. I need to be at a healthy weight (not shredded) . I need to be able to move my body through space and possibly move a fallen officer or citizen (not deadlift 600 lbs). I need to have good conditioning and a strong motor. I can say I’ve achieved all but that last one.
From this point forward, I’ll train for performance. I’ll do these HIIB and CrossFit type workouts. They’ll check every box. I’m not going to grow (or at least it’s not worth pursuing) so physique maintenance and conditioning are the objectives.
I might be able to come back to my old goals but I need to win the mental health battle first.
For some reason, I did bench/row/bike on the first three rounds. I moved the bike to the first movement and it made a big difference. I’m going to love it for this type of training. I think it would fit well with Brian Alsruhe’s programs, too.
Having struggled with mental health issues over half my life, I applaud your effort in prioritizing what really matters. As a recovering addict, I too have struggled to find balance in many aspects of my life, including training. As a Christian who feels like my spiritual life lags behind too often, I’m glad to know I’m not the only one. Thank you for sharing not only your training and successes but also your struggles. I do believe God gave us a love for training as a way to enrich our lives. Hebrews 12:1 Keep running the race he has set out for you.
This was a big thing for me when I first came to faith, I actually quit training and sold all my stuff. I wanted to make sure that I didn’t put anything before God, or have my body becoming an idol. Fast forward a few years I got back into training, but after having solidified my faith ensuring that my focus is on him.
Now don’t get me wrong I slip sometimes and God doesn’t get my best, but that’s not because of me training that’s of my walk with him slipping. Having said that if God’s put his finger on this as an issue, only right to listen and obey! Sounds like you got a great Christian counselor!
The pastor at our church has been holding nothing back this year. He’s preaching about end times and backing his messages with the Bible. It’s not crazy talk; it’s real. Satan is waging his war and he knows he’s on borrowed time.
More than once I’ve considered giving up training for lint. My church is non denominational and that’s not really pushed on us, but I find it to be an admirable thing. The inner dialog about giving up training always resulted in me thinking “Absolutely not. I can’t give it up. I can’t stop.”
Well, that right there seems like an obvious clue that I put my training at the top. That has to change. I don’t think God cares if I deadlift more weight. I’m sure he’d applaud the accomplishment but only when it’s in the right place in my life.
This has been a long, slow process. I watched a short message while on the elliptical today. It was about Lot and Abraham splitting up. They both had successful livestock/herding gigs but Lot got greedy. He chose to go towards Sodom knowing it was a bad place. He convinced himself that he could take advantage of the good land without getting sucked into the bad things. Next thing you read, Lot is in Sodom. Shortly after that, he’s “in the gates” meaning he was in the city council.
Never meet the devil half way.
She’s phenomenal and she doesn’t hold back. She’s what I need right now.
I’ll throw a couple of my favorites out there. I’m a fan of John Eldredge for longer more inspirational type Christian men’s living. Also for shorter daily stuff I enjoy Max Lucado’s writing.
Actually I’m really terrible with reading too (which really makes me wonder why I chose the field I’m in lol). But these were really good reads for me. I really needed something that didn’t have the “fluff” that modern day churches present Christianity as. I wasn’t looking to just be inspired or motivated too. I wanted to see Christianity for what it really is, even if it didn’t sound nice.
May I suggest reading:
A.W. Tozer - The Pursuit of God
C.S. Lewis - Mere Christianity
The first is shorter than the second (just around 100 pages if I remember right), so that may be a good place to start. But don’t let the length fool you.
Proud of you brother. Self assessment is a hard thing, and many times can be a bitter pill to swallow. You’re a good man, and exactly what people need protecting them x
Second that (first book I read as a Christian apart from the Bible) and pretty much anything by Tozer.
Yup too much out there that’s just hype and motivational stuff, you can get that from the self help gurus, the motivation from this stuff fades as fast as it comes and has no lasting value.
Real motivation comes from knowing Him deeper, which generally comes from reading the Bible and prayer, no substitute for those two. Being in a good church is really important as is spending time with other believers but they are a second place to your personal walk, and if your only time committed to God is a Sunday morning then you’re not going to be doing well.
Haven’t read this, it’s in my ridiculously big pile of books I need to read! A book I read and world recommend, that was modern but not fluff - Forgotten God by Francis Chan.
Had hundreds of posts to catch up on, glad that it seems as if you’ve had a turn for the better. And glad you’ve decided to continue spending your time here, referring to this
As this place can be a two-edged sword.
Maybe it’ll make you smirk, now, that things have improved that my immediate response to this
Today didn’t feel impossible! Being weak has its benefits!
WARM UP
5 min Airdyne
10 Rounds
Squat x 5 - 185 for rds 1-5, 135 for 6-10 Hip Thrust x 5 - no! These are stupid and hard to do at home. My Smith doesn’t go low enough. I also didn’t want to be crippled from soreness. KB Swing x 10 - 45 lbs Did my warm up with 45 and realized that the rapid stretch was going to tear me up so I kept it light. These are also why I scratched hip thrusts. Ab Wheel x 10 - Did 10 reps for rds 1-5, 5 reps for 6-10 to avoid severe DOMS.
Bonus Punishment
Because I felt like I needed to do more work since I wasn’t crying for help. Airdyne Tabata (8 rounds) 400 cals, 3.0 miles
42 minutes plus the warm up.
Are some cinnamon and sugar pastry thing for breakfast and we’re having pizza at the bowling alley for lunch.
