DAY 38

My workout yesterday was far more mild, so today I upped the ante. I'm especially proud of my 37 second Frog Stand (I had my friend time me with a stop watch on  those, for the record).

Workout Summary (Fitocracy)

Jumping Jacks
50 jumping jacks

Superman
30 sec
60 sec
25 sec

One-Arm Dumbbell Row
8 lb x 20 reps
8 lb x 22 reps
8 lb x 21 reps

Body Weight Bulgarian Split Squat
11 reps
16 reps
8 reps

Static Wall Sit
45 sec
60 sec
25 sec

Mountain Climbers
10 reps
10 reps
6 reps

Frog Stand
19 sec
37 sec
10 sec

Subways are still down, though we have limited bus service. Doesn't look like I'll be leaving Brooklyn till at least the weekend; time to catch up on Supernatural, write some new cover letters, and be productive.  Though tonight I believe I will put on make up with my other actor friends down the street and take photos. Make your own fun, kids!

DAYS 31-37

Final week of the challenge, and this has been the longest I've gone between updates.  I'm sitting here hunkered down in my apt as Sandy rages outside; I'm pretty far inland in Brooklyn and fortunately still have power.  I've done all my emergency prep and I'm pretty sure my former Boy Scout brothers would approve of my work. I'm sitting here in cargo pants with a flashlight and knife at my waist, batteries and matches in my pockets, with a backpack full of supplies ready should the worst occur. At this point it seems unlikely, but I kind of had a lot of fun preparing; imagining myself as bad ass military personnel, ready to leap into action.

I've been lax on the updates because I was travelling and then when I returned from my three day DC trip had to go straight into two long back to back shifts at the bar. And then this whole hurricane business started up. I've kept up with my workouts, though not my diet.  While visiting my family I indulged in my mother's cooking to the fullest extent; most of it was stuff I eat anyway so it wasn't "cheating; at least not up until the chocolate chip cookies came out. So. Good.

I caught up with a close a friend while in DC, and her roommate, coincidentally, was able to give me some awesome tips on my frog-stand as well as show me how to do a tripod headstand.  I think it will be some time before I attempt that on my own, but it was a great feeling and I now feel that it's closer to my reach.

On Thursday my mom drove me and my friend up to southern PA where my folks own a small house, and it wascompletely invigorating. The air was so fresh and it was so quiet, I felt completely mentally reset. We even worked out there, outside on the side of the hill; we did jump lunges and sprints up the hill; leaping over giant hillhocks and through the grass. It was freaking awesome.

Push ups are going well; my current max is 13. I think if I really make sure I sleep enough this week and approach my workouts well rested, I will be able to get to at least 18 reps. We'll see.
Still over the moon about my newfound frog-standing abilities:

Alright, back to catching up on the Walking Dead. Hope everyone affected by the storm is staying safe!

DAYS 28, 29 & 30

I'm really dragging my heels folks, but I attribute that to the fact that since late September I have been going at break neck speed, and well, sometimes shit gets put off and fallen behind/etc.  More importantly, I am progressing on at least two of my goals for the challenge, and am confident that I will at least accomplish my Push Up goal. So that's great! Everything else has been a good lesson about my habits, what my weak spots are and what I need to work on.

I had quite a work day Sunday and as a result over-indulged in food and drink after work. I kind of saw it coming, but it was the one day and not a week long binge, so I'm not going to worry about it. I definitely needed to let off steam; just don't want to make that particular method a habit, hahah.

I don't see a point anymore in just logging my workouts here, as I already do that on Fitocracy, so I'll focus on making this more about logging what I've learned from said workouts than just logging data.

I just started week 2 of the Push Up Program I'm following and already upped my max rep! I was able to crank out 12 reps in the last set of my most recent push up workout; that felt beyond beast. Think I might have mentioned this, but I'm really focusing on making sure I A) get 8 hours of sleep every night and B) eat enough good things, especially on my rest day, and C) streeetching.

I've also started experimenting with hot/cold showers and I have to say, maybe it's placebo effect but I definitely noticed less leg stiffness & soreness than before.

I've been working at the bar a lot to make up for the time I took off and I feel like I'm letting other areas (acting) take a hit because I don't have the energy to focus and get the work done that I need to. I'm going to DC to visit my parents, youngest brother, and big sis for a few days; leave tomorrow morning (after an audition!) and come back Saturday. When I get back, I go straight into working 4 days in a row, which is good as I need the money. I'm taking the DC trip as a mental break, but when I get back, I'm coming back swinging.  I really need to step up my approach to my career. I'm getting antsy about pilot season around the corner.

Overall, I think my main take away from this challenge so far is that I need to learn how to moderate myself. I tend to go all in, which works great for a short time, and then I crash completely.  So I need to work on focusing on just doing little things to work towards a more balanced lifestyle.

Last but not least: I CAN DO A FROGSTAND. I was literally sitting here, about to go on a search for advice on how to progress, because my last attempts I couldn't even get my toes off the ground, and I thought "I wonder if my push up progression has improved my forearm strength and core balance." So I got on the floor and DID LIKE FOUR SECONDS OF FROG. AHHH I'M SO EXCITED.

PEACE MOFOS
C

DAYS 26/27

Just got hit by a giant dose of tired; I was on a night schedule all week (working late/being up late, sleeping late) and it made it impossible to sleep last night; so after a day of work I am now suitably exhausted.

BUT! This morning, before the exhaustion kicked in, I busted out a SICK workout and upped my max rep for push ups.  This push-up plan is really doing its thing, I'm pleased to say.

Push Ups:
9-11-8-8-12(!)
Bulgarian Split squats:
9-13-9-6-10
Rolling Plank of Doom:
20 s(all 4 sides) / 35 s (4 sides)/ 15 s(4sides)

So that's awesome.  Also, one of our delightful regulars brought us homemade sweet potato pie and OH MY FREAKING GOD. So yummy. Definitely had two slices. So worth it.

I have never been more confident that I'll be reaching my goal of 20 consecutive push ups by the end of the challenge. I can hardly wait!

DAY 25

Mellow and somewhat productive day so far.

Got a little writing done; one of the reasons I often find myself desiring to write or work on acting stuff but frozen and ineffectual is I get overwhelmed by how much I want to do.  It finally sunk in today that I just need to create better routines. So, for starters:

-Write just one paragraph - this usually will turn into more, but if I set the goal as just the one, it seems more achievable on a day-to-day basis.
-Read aloud for five minutes
-Work on a scene or monologue for five minutes.

I did all that today and then some because I was enjoying myself so much. So, start small!

Workout was light:

Jumping Jacks: 50-50-50
Bench Dips: 10-8-7
Flat Straight Leg Raise: 10-15-10

Then I did 8 min of a deep squat, 2 min of calf stretch and 4 minutes of another MOBWod stretch.

Off to bartend.

-C

DAYS 22, 23 & 24

Forgot to update yesterday, and yesterday was awesome workout wise!

Yesterday(Day 23)

Bulgarian: 10-12-8-8-6
Push Up: 8-10-8-8-10 (The last 10 were brutal, sheer willpower was behind that last rep. But I'm so pumped.)
RollingPlankofDoom:
20 s each (1:20 total)
25 s each (1:40)
15 s each (1:00)

This Push Up plan is working pretty darn well, it seems!

So did that, and back on track with diet and IF.  Today was another late sleep day, can't do that again tomorrow or I won't get anything productive done.  I STILL need to return those library books. Ugh.

Workout Summary (copy and pasted from Fitocracy 'cause I'm lazy but with point values deleted because they're aren't relevant to me).

Jumping Jacks
50

One-Arm Dumbbell Row
8 lb x 18 reps
8 lb x 22 reps
8 lb x 18 reps

Jump Squat (Toyotas)
15 reps
18 reps
15 reps

Superman
45 sec
70 sec

45 sec

Whoo! Feeling strong and like I'm on the track to noticeable improvement again, which feels amazing. 

-C

DAY 21

Sunday! Funday, supposedly, but I beg to differ. Today was long and tedious with only few moments of respite, granted me by my always-cool and highly entertaining coworkers.  Worked both the 1 PM and the 4 PM game, which is not usually the case, so I didn't get home until 10:30 PM.  I was feeling not great; honestly I've been in a funk since the film wrapped.  Before I get into that:

Workout 10.15:

Jumping Jacks

100 

Push-Up
6-8-6-7 

Jump Squat
16 - 15 - 15 - 14
Superman
45 sec - 60 sec - 45 sec - 45 sec

I didn't know if I had it in me for push ups or any leg work at all; because I went dancing last night after working, so my legs were extra tired; add a twice-as-long-as-usual-shift today and I really didn't think I could crank out my Day 2 amount of push up reps for the push up program I'm following.

In my last post, I mentioned how I was thinking of going back on my diet plan; basically reintroducing cheats and booze and whatever else.  Then it hit me.

I was ready to quit. Throw in the towel. Not just the diet, the whole challenge.  I gave up inside.  Somewhere I lost the bullheaded optimism with which I had entered my first challenge and I just felt tired, beaten, and like there was no point to trying. 

The combination of my personal shit plus post-film-depression sent me into a tailspin, and though my primary meals were mostly on diet, I started drinking way more, and then eating crap late at night. Not even because I was hungry (I've been super vigilant about making sure I'm always satisfied, hungry Cara is not a happy Cara, nor a functional one); it was 100% emotional eating.

And I realized it truly tonight. I had been rationalizing it, "Oh, I'm just easing up, I can always try again next challenge, etc" I knew it was BS because I didn't really want to quit. I still want to reach my goals.  But I just felt empty of will power.  And the fact that I didn't have the mental energy to keep striving toward the goals I knew I wanted, and in fact didn't even feel that driving desire anymore, was even more depressing, which just fed into the whole thing.

I have been on a serious roll in a lot of ways, so I guess the crash was inevitable; we all go through great, awesome periods and low periods where you feel like you just can't catch a break.  And even though it's been less than two weeks since the movie wrapped and that's not a very long time, I crashed hard.  And that's okay. The important thing is, I figured out what happened.

Once I realized I had given up, it (obviously) lit a fire under my ass, and I attacked my workout, determined to regain control. Completing that fired me up again.

So. I almost quit, but I caught myself.

-C