Today would be my wifeās 2 year anniversary since she started her weight loss journey (and successfully maintained her new weight). She dropped 120lbs the first year and has maintained steady at 110lbs since then.
When we first met, she was 230lbs on a 5ā2 frame, very sedentary. At this time, I was a lean(ish) 220 and going through my obsessive phase of lifting which has calmed down a lot since then. Opposite ends of the spectrum and two worlds definently collided.
Me and her love to talk about our first date, met on a dating app, she had zero pictures of herself, but I still took the chance, and when I initially saw her, I almost walked out. Almost. She went home that night pretty sad, thinking I wouldnāt ever text back, itās actually what she was expecting before we even met. But I did, and Iām glad I did.
Sheās now more confident than ever, her self esteem is high, and she can wear the clothes she wants to wear without hiding away. It took years of patience on my end but I saw her for what she was worth. She doesnāt go to the gym and Iām alright with that. I never forced her to lose weight and she made that decision herself. Iām proud of her for that.
Sprint training today on the Erg (Concept 2), regular sprint rowing didnāt go that greatā¦.but I did hit an unexpected PR on legs only rowing (or maybe it should be called Quadding!) of 500M in 1:36.6 ā¦..most horrific quad-pump ever!
This felt super-cool, because, my first go at doing 500M on a C2 (orthodox rowing/not just legs was about 6 seconds slower that that). Booyah!!!
Son learned to swim this summer. Took him and I 6 weeks of (2) 1 hour swim sessions 3-4 days per week. By the time he reached 3-1/2 years old he was swimming unassisted.
Most of our swimming time was spent playing of course, with floaties on, but at the beginning and end of each session we did 2 āswim outsā with no floaties, where he would just sort of jump out to me from the bottom of the steps and I would drag him around by his hands or hold his belly and swim out and back to the steps (where Iād let him swim the last couple feet). Also spent some time having him walk his hands along the edge of the pool to get to the exit points.
After a while I started letting air out of his floaties. I also spent a lot of time just swimming around the pool and underwater with him hanging on my back like a monkey.
A few times he stepped off that bottom step and sort of lingered underwater with just the top of his head showing. Iād give him a second to figure it out but had to lift him out each time. Finally I told him, hey, when your feet touch the bottom of the pool just jump back up to that bottom step. Well he was fired up after that and did about 30 straight reps.
Anyways, after that he was game, and was just sort of was like, yeah I donāt want my floaties on dad. And next thing I knew he was swimming, 100% unassisted, all around the entire pool. We also spent some time in the deep end seeing how far down we could go. He would use the bottom of the ladder to push himself down or Iād pull him down with me.
By the time our summer ended (apartment pool is closed now) we were working on retrieving diving toys from the bottom.
Anyways, watching that toddler swim around like he was born to it was pretty awesome and I didnāt realize the compounding effect of what we were doing until just one day he could swim. Trying to apply that to other areas of his life that we work on, such as strength training, wrestling, and learning to read and write. If itās 98% about play and 2% about actually practicing what youāre trying to learn, thatās all you need.
I did the Sunday New York Times crossword puzzle in eighteen minutes. No one I know cares - and rightly so. You donāt either. But Iām putting this out there anyway.
I had a voicemail this morning from a woman who was referred to me by my primary care doc. Iām stunned by it - for one thing, they have in-house therapists (I was one several years ago) and for another, I feel like Iām a complete lunatic in her office. I adore her. She supports my penchant for experimentation on myself and I never feel rushed.
Every referral from someone who knows me well feels like a win, but this one in particular.
Youngest sonā¦ just won a national illustration contest.
The outfit in question will be flying and housing him for a week out to Hollywood in April . Where he will be recognized and given a $5k contract to do a cover for their magazine.
I deadlifted 295lbs for a not too grindy triple, even considering that Iām ~1.5lbs over my āresting weightā, itās still a PR
I was listening to a Russian livestream for students preparing for the history portion of their state exams and I could understand most of it even though it was playing in the background
Dangerous topic choice, donāt let him conflate size and strength training, then heāll be taking Powerbuilding and that is an abomination - his soul might be at risk!
When does referencing back to that thread become tedious? I mean we still do shoe in a photo and clavicle lengthening surgery, so got a good decade to go right?
I have two. First, last week (I think) we had company, and one of them was a 36 year old male airline pilot. I have a lot of workout stuff in the living room, as well as equipment upstairs, where they slept. At some point the son engaged me in a long conversation about all things fitness. He wondered what I do, right down to my supplementation. Heās serious about his own workouts, and for instance skis at a level that allows him to do heli- (off-piste) skiing. I assume he was attentive at this level because he wants to tell his mom, but whatever the reason I was very flattered to be recognized as āone of usā by one of us.
