Rewind to 10th Grade

Training Training Logs
182

Last Tuesday night I started to feel a little sick. Had developed a slight cough and what felt like could be the beginning of a fever - mostly general body aches. Wednesday through…Friday (I think) my temp never got extreme but I felt like I’d been hit a truck, had hot and cold flashes, and was coughing pretty good.

I didn’t go to the hospital to get tested…I really didn’t think I had Corona, as the change to spring weather and the start of allergy season often brings about a sickness for me, so I just stayed home. In my room as much as I could, sleeping mostly.

By the weekend the slight fever and aches were gone but I still have a pretty crazy cough. Last night was horrible - woke myself up every half hour coughing till I’d throw up. My abs feel so hard though so it’s totally worth it. (That’s a joke.)

Been taking some OTC stuff, and cough drops actually really help. Trying to stay hydrated. Hoping this will ride itself out. I still don’t think it’s Corona, since I have no symptoms besides my cough. The thing that confuses me though is that this is very normal for me. EVERY single time I get sick, no matter what it’s from, once I’m on the mend, I get a really bad cough that can last for up to a week. I have no idea why…I feel like that may point to weak lungs or a weak respiratory system but I feel like mine should be in okay condition. Maybe it’s something I have no control over.

Oh, anyway, have not been training since this happened. First few days I felt bad enough I just said no, and with just the cough, any exertion brings on a fit. Not worth it to me. Hopefully this goes away soon.

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Hope you bounce back soon. We have to call 211 and get screened over the phone if we get sick. I’m sure they have a similar option where you’re located. You could call in if you’re curious.

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Thank you. I decided to call in today. That cough was just getting worse. I ended up being allowed to go in, and turns out I have pneumonia. Got some antibiotics which I don’t love taking but I suppose I have no other option. Should be feeling fine by the end of the week.

Asked my doctor why my stuff always become respiratory issues that lasts long and hits hard and if I could fight that (getting in better shape?). He just said no particular reason and I must just have sensitive lungs, haha. No real solution, just try to stay healthy. Oh well, definitely not the worst thing I could have to deal with.

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Dang, that sucks. Glad you got some pharmaceutical help.

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Haven’t trained in a couple weeks now. Maybe even closer to 3 weeks. I feel like I’m on the mend. Cough is mostly gone, no fever, but a sore throat has popped up. Ibuprofen takes care of that though, and it doesn’t really affect me beyond being annoying.

I’ve lost 12lbs or so, and get out of breath walking up the stairs. Most food beyond fruit is causing heartburn and nausea. Not sure what that’s about. I’m sleeping about 12+ hours a day. My body feels much better but I’m just super worn out and exhausted. I didn’t sleep well during the weeks when I was really sick, so maybe I’m just trying to recover.

I’m still delivering papers in the morning, so there’s some daily walking, and I’ll do a few pushups here and there, but really just focusing on trying to rest and recover. I have no idea if this was just pneumonia or maybe if it was corona. It was rough and my lungs and body feel like they really got beat up. Hopefully it’s not something that leaves beyond lasting effects, like some people say they’ve noticed. My little brother who had “pneumonia” in January is quite healthy, but says his lungs haven’t felt the same since. I don’t know.

Found out on Easter that my girlfriend is pregnant. Mixed emotions. It was an accident, haha.

I’d say the pros of the situation are that we’ve been together for almost 5 years and were planning on getting married, so I at least know that I love her and want to be with her. Better than some random girl from a party. We share pretty similar beliefs and opinions, she’s a super kind person, loves kids, our families are big fans of each other.

She will probably be able to get an Associate’s degree (or at least very close) before having the baby, so at least that’s something. She really doesn’t know what she wants to do and has questioned if she even wanted to finish school so this (not getting a Bachelor’s) has already been discussed. I’m making $8k+ in extra scholarship money a year by going to school so I’ll definitely be getting my degree. It’s the opposite of most peoples’ experiences but I’d be losing money by not going to college, haha.

She has a really well paying (like, really really good) nanny job, and will most likely be able to continue doing that up until giving birth. I’m still delivering papers making okay money, and have qualified for $600 a week due to my job at a bar being shut down. That’s more money than I’ve ever made in my life so I’m just throwing that all in my savings account. I’m assuming things will have cooled off by this summer (though we’ll see)…if so, we’ll both get full time jobs and save as much as we can.

We each live at home so we can continue living for free until the last minute. I’ve still got little siblings, so I can just buy a crib, carseat, baby clothes, etc. pretty cheaply from my mom. My gf has a good car, great shape, no issues. We live in a small enough town that we don’t need two anytime soon.

Cons? We weren’t married, and we’re going to be unprepared. I mean, I think we’re going to be better prepared than most people in our positions, but we’re still going to be scrambling for a lot of things. Another con is that I guess we’re just plain dumb enough to let this happen. She was on birth control, I was dumb/selfish/immature enough to not do my part in being safe and didn’t wear a condom.

I think we’re a good couple, but we have our issues like everyone else. Planning on signing up for counseling asap. Get things figured out and taken care of so we’re as emotionally healthy/stable as possible before this kid pops out.

I told my mom - boy was she mad. She got pregnant at 16, had me at 17. I’m pretty sure her life mission was just making sure I didn’t make the same mistake. I feel pretty bad for how much I know I’ve disappointed her. We’re cool though. I still get told daily how dumb I am. She needs time to process it, and grieve for the changes the family will go through, but it’s okay. I am dumb and she deserves time to handle it however she wants.

Haven’t told my dad yet - he’s out of town. When I do, I think his main concern is just that we’ll be broke. He was upset when I was expelled from high school because he almost was as well and didn’t think he’d ever have to see me in that same place. Now he’s going to see me being a young, probably broke dad just like he was, and was not expecting it.

Haven’t told her parents yet. They’ll be mad, but her mom is older and only had 2 kids, so something that’ll be different is that she’ll be excited about having a grandchild. My mom’s still got a 5 year old, so she’s content not having any more babies, haha.

We’ve discussed giving it up for adoption. Not sure if we will or not. When my mom was pregnant with me, her entire family encouraged her to give me up. Figured I’d have a better life with some older, more financially stable people. I love my family, and think I’ve had a perfectly fine life when compared to most of the world, but they were probably right.

I have no interest in giving the kid up so that I can continue being young and free, or so I don’t have to take care of it. I want kids, I wanted them while I was young, and I really don’t mind doing things like feeding kids, changing diapers, etc. I played a big role in taking care of my younger siblings. Only reason I’d give it up is if I genuinely felt like someone else could give it a better life. Maybe some couple who just can’t have kids but really wants them. I think adoptive families have the lowest rates of abuse out of any type of families (not that I’m abusive, haha). We’ll see. My gf (obviously) isn’t really digging the idea. That’s fine. It’s pretty new news.

In the end, I’m just going to do everything I can to prepare for this. I know it’ll be hard, but I’m hardworking and smart, and so if my girlfriend. We’ll save money, work as much as we can, I’m still going to get a college degree, we have a lot of the material items we’ll need, etc. We’re going to do counseling to make sure we’re in good mental spots. Neither of us has any addictions or anything that cost money/strain relationships. We’re healthy. It’ll be tough but I can be pretty determined when I want to be (in like every area BUT fitness lol), and since I created a human that didn’t ask to be created, I’m going to do everything I can to give it the best shot. Including considering giving it up. That’d be hard, but I’m going to do my best to leave my emotions out of it and let what is best for the child to 100% be the only factor in my decision making. This is specific to my beliefs but definitely going to be praying and looking to God for guidance in all of this.

Sorry for the length of this. I know I only have like 1, sometimes 2 frequent readers but this is basically my journal. That I update monthly, ha.

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How old are you? I was pretty much unprepared for both my kids, haha.

Any time any friends and family ask to bring anything for the children present-wise, ask for diapers. Ours was nearly a year when we bought our first box of diapers.

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We’re both 20. I think it’ll be due in mid-December, so I’ll be 21.

It’s definitely better than being 16.

Thanks for the diaper tip!

I’m just kinda googling the prices of things…holy sh*t. Health insurance? My family’s never really had it, and I knew it was expensive, cause that’s why Bernie’s giving it away but man. Things’ll be tight for a while :rofl:. Oh well. No biggie.

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Here’s a thought about adoption - giving it up might give it what you think is a better life, but those people would adopt another baby if you keep yours. Think of the 16 year old couples. Your baby could get adopted instead of theirs. There’s a tiny ripple effect. If you think you guys can did this then I think you should.

I think it’s awesome you’re seeking counseling to get your minds right. There’s a lot of stress with a new baby and it’s mostly on the woman. Hormones change during the pregnancy and then again afterwards. New parents can get out of sorts in a hurry because it’s all new.

My wife developed a mama bear problem when our first kid arrived. She viewed our home as her and our daughter vs me. Luckily, we went to counseling and got help. The first thing the counselor taught us was the hierarchy of the home.

  • our marriage
  • the kids
  • family
    *friends
    (Some people might flip the last two.)

If our relationship isn’t healthy then it has a negative impact on the kids. It’s easy to focus on the kids first but eventually it will do more harm than good.

I know it’s probably a bit scary but you can handle this.

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That’s true. I hadn’t thought of that. I’m not “wanting” to give it up, I just haven’t closed off that option because I have no idea where my life (or the world, honestly. I don’t have some office job that I can work from home and continue getting a steady paycheck) will be in 9 months. I also think the decision is really more up to my gf…as of now she’s not leaning in that direction. She has her first doctors appointment in early May. We’ll see if, to be blunt, there’s even a heartbeat. I had no idea how high the chances of miscarriage are. Basically 15-20%. She’s healthy but we’ll see.

I don’t know if you’ve heard of him but John Rosemond has a weekly column in our newspaper. I’ve always read it, just because, and agree with him pretty much all the time. This is something I feel like he says all the time. I agree with it, and would want to make sure things go the way they should.

Thank you. I’m not sure how I feel. I don’t think it’s really sunk in. I’ve only known for a few days. It doesn’t seem quite real yet. I feel pretty confident in my ability to do parental things like change diapers and everything, my only concern is how broke we’ll be. I know many, many young families are broke, but I was supposed to kinda change the cycle of my family, and start a new generation of people not on welfare, haha. I’m not really anti-welfare, due to having needed it, but I’m just going to need to work hard and be smart so that hopefully, some day, I can be financially successful. Probably not a millionaire but at least independent.

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Just checking into your log, I have a lot of reading catch up on when I’m not at work! It looks like you have some serious decisions in your near future, but it also looks like you’re approaching things with the right attitude and thoughtfully, at least.

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Thanks! I’m trying to do things the right way. Seen a lot of bums have kids and I’d like to not follow that path.

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I’ve been showing my brothers the main barbell movements. I like 5/3/1 and would probably just go into the beginner program with them, but I don’t think they’re ready to find a 1RM (and subsequently TM).

Should they just do a linear progression or something until they stall out? Then move onto 5/3/1 when we’ve gotten an idea of where they’re at? I’ve never really helped a literal beginner.

Anybody have any suggestions?

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Was charged for another month of training from PC. Not sure why, as the 3 month subscription had ended, but he’s not answering emails or refunding me…

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Just have them start. Don’t worry about percentages. Have them do 5/3/1 and increase the weight from cycle to cycle based on how they do. If they’re getting 20+ on the AMRAP then make a bigger jump than normal.

You could also start with a TM test. Have them work up to a tough single, but you get to be the judge for shutting them down. You’ll see the rep slow down before they hit a 1 RM. Call that their TM.

Check the fine print of your agreement. If it’s not covered by some sort of sneaky statement then contact your bank and tell them you didn’t authorize that transaction. They should be able to reverse it or refund your money.

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196

Alternatively to what J said, you could have them hit a hard set of 3-5 and call that the TM. Just another way to skin the same cat.

I agree, check the agreement over and then contact your bank. I’m sure he’ll be far less willing to jerk around a bank rep if something isn’t right.

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197

Man that kinda sucks, but best of luck to you bro. It’s cool you’re going to be responsible instead of killing it like some selfish trash.

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Thanks my man. Not too upset - it’s the result of my own actions so I can’t be mad at anyone and besides, I’ve always known I want kids. This is just a little earlier than I’d imagined.

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You’ll love it when your my age. Your kiddo will be in high school and you’ll still be a youngster. Long term, I think it’s cool to have kids young so you can be active and involved in their lives. You can also enjoy your empty nest years because you’ll be like 42.

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Haha that’s what I’ve thought. I’m 20, and neither of my parents are 40. There’s definitely some really nice things about it. Most of my buddies from high school have parents who are in their 50’s and it shows. That being said, most of them don’t do anything to help it. They dress “old” haha, they’re out of shape, etc. I don’t imagine someone like you or Flap seeming like an old dude by 40, 45.

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It seems that old dudes who are active get leaner. Their skin is also thinner. I’m anticipating looking like a shredded beast when I’m old.

I’m 35 and my mom will be 59 this year and my dad will be 62. I love it. I’ll be a little older with my kids. I’ll turn 50 the year my youngest turns 18 (God willing).

It’ll just be nice to not have one foot in the grave when my kids leave the house. I love my kids and I’ve always wanted kids, but I’m also selfish and want to do my own thing. I really enjoy my time with my wife after the kids go to bed. We still need our alone time.

I’m lucky that my wife values fitness. She gets time for her running and I get time for my weights. We both know how important it is for mental health.