DeViLzzz GETS CRACKIN' (Non PhysX Edition)

All the progress I made in the last challenge has been defeated by my mental illness not allowing me to take things to the next level. I think I can come up with some challenges that I want to do and can get done and will help my life but not the real hard stuff I need to do. It is what it is. My life ... :S

I will be back in this post to add some goals/challenges in the coming days.

Update: I didn't come here soon enough with a goal but a huge one just fell in my lap.


Well 10 days ago I said I would be back with a goal and here I am on July 12, 2016 and I have in front of me an invitation from my aunt to come down for a weekend sometime soon to see if I can work well enough with the horses (standardbreds) to get my groomer's license. The thing is I have regressed in my physical fitness and dieting and the shape I am in now is not where I'd want to be working with these animals. I have been waiting for an opportunity like this all my life and she needs help with the five horses since my Uncle Joe passed on recently but in my current condition I don't think I can give my best. I am just so angry that I could not fight to get to the next level of exercise and diet that I so wanted and by not doing so I have given myself less a chance at doing well with this opportunity presented to me. Oh and the biggest issue right now is I couldn't even wake energized to do the job because my sleep cycle is totally reversed. I hate my life. It is always something. With this job I would be expected to rise and get ready quick to work at 5 am I believe and take care of the horses all day. Making this harder is my dosage is supposed to go up on a new medication and they were going to wait til next prescription fill to do it.

Sooooo ..... I guess my goal for this month is to ask important questions of my aunt in terms of what I need in terms of proper gear/clothing for this work and also I must let her now of my current physical state. I also must try this week to get back to daily exercise and maybe push the 8 second sprints with 10 second pauses to the top doing this for however many repetitions it says to do them. I really need to push hard because this job is all I have ever wanted.

Good news is I saw the pharmacist in the early morning hours of the 12th to see if they could start me on the new dose for the newer med I have been taking as I want to be used to it before going to any new work experience. So I guess I did accomplish one step so far in getting where I need to be.

I know like my aunt said one can only look forward and forget the past. The now is what is important. The thing is though if you had the opportunity to get your dream job would you not want to go into it with the best possible chance to do it? I really don't think I can get this done in the time frame I believe they expect me to do this. I even have my son's stepmother saying she will drive me to the London area to their home to do this which is big considering my son's stepmother does not like me but she knows this is all I have ever wanted.

I have a few tears trying to run out of my eyes. I feel anxious that I am trying to rush something that just isn't possible under the circumstances. I feel disappointed that I did not take up the offer by my son to help me continue to workout at the YMCA for June but I refused it because I wanted him to have his own life and he has gained so much from me being out of the way that month. Anyway I am stressed ...

Oh and to add more pressure but also incentive my aunt said if things worked out I could move to the London area and work with them on a regular basis if this trial went well. Now unfortunately because my Uncle Joe's son has his own issues and they have been made worse by his father's death I can't stay and live with them at the house which would have been beneficial to both parties but it just won't work.

:S

Here is a video of my Uncle Joe (Rest in peace and sorely missed :S) with Che who my Aunt Deb told me I would not be allowed around due to his anxiousness and other things that make him a wild one. Ironic I can't be around him when I have anxiety issues too. I thought we would be good together


Day 1 of "GET CRACKIN"

60 minutes and 1 second of jogging/running, 3 sets of 10 stomach vacuum, full waist twists (unknown number) and 63 leg lifts which also worked on the stomach plus I did a set of sprints for 8 seconds with 10 second pauses in between.

I am looking at just less than 2 weeks of workouts to be ready by Friday the 22nd of July (that weekend) for them to have me down to work with the horses.

Also today I did some research looking at schools for the future that have groom training and I looked at the costs and not so bad so I have a backup plan. I also looked for proper gear for working in the barns and I think it will be pretty common stuff but I want to get good fitting and good quality clothing for this.

Finally in the evening my son and I played some tennis and then while just walking back to the house invented a new sport using tennis rackets on a soccer pitch and it was loads of fun and full of laughs but also I said to my son that innovation comes from trying the craziest stuff. It was fun to think and talk about what we were doing out there and how it could be made into a real sport. Next we then went on and played another real sport shooting some hoops for an hour or so. We had a great evening and I got a hell of a workout today. I got to continue this Wednesday and it has to be just as intense.

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Day 2 of "GET CRACKIN"

While I probably should take it easy the next day after so much exercise on the previous day with experts saying you should really only exercise 3 times a week vigorously today after waking up I have put in the following bits of work:

505 full waist twists
4 sets of 10 stomach vacuum
4 sets of jumping jacks (started at 10 and increased by 1 each time ... and I don't know what jumping jacks really can do for a person in terms of exercise but I was waiting on Spybot to do it's thing and killed a little time doing these)
8 sprints of 8 seconds with a 10 second pause in between

I played some road hockey but not too intense. I snuck that in very last hour of the 13th and into the 14th. I still haven't done the running for the day though and I thought I would have had more time to do it but I got stuck twice having to wait out a very bad rain storm. I guess you can consider the fast walking and even jogging/running I did from Walmart to McDonald's and then eventually home as exercise and I did have a loaded backup on. I'd say I was carrying 10 lbs. minimum in it.

Now as for disappointment I didn't get some time with my son today despite calling him to come over but he never answered and also by the time I got home I looked over to the school near me and yes they had the lights that shine on the court off. They always had been on in the past but I wonder if some people complained in recent times about people hanging out there late. I remembered parked cars with people doing who knows what and then others including me playing basketball. I get people wanting to get their sleep but it wasn't like I was playing extremely late. I mean the latest I was out there shooting was up to midnight and it is far enough away from the house they shouldn't hear jack ****.

Oh and getting back to the storm I had went to Walmart to get cheese that was on sale but when I looked at the flyer they had it didn't show it and so I called the manager and well don't you know it I had looked at the wrong flyer and the cheese is on sale Thursday. So instead of turning around and going home when I took care of some EB Games trades/promos I went to Walmart for nothing and got caught in a storm because of it and it chewed up my hours to play basketball. Honestly I was so pissed when I got home and I was pissed after playing road hockey into the wee hours of Thursday and finally I took a drink and went to calm the heck down and sat at the front porch of the house and it didn't work. I ended up back in here and now I am writing this addition to my post. I should just go to sleep and get up early and put in double time today (Thursday) but I don't think I can sleep.

Day 2 Update -

I finished up getting my 60+ minutes of jogging/running in and it was definitely a faster pace than the other day. The song played the most during this .......

I am just thankful I sucked it up and put in hard work at the witching hours to make what I did for day 2 much better.

Oh and now on my list of goals before I die. To party on a boat like this. : P

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Day 3 Update -

I woke up extremely late this 14th of July. If I get some exercise in so be it but if not they do say excessive exercise can be bad. Unfortunately my sleep pattern is a total mess and I slept til 8:30 pm or so. Also I didn't have clean clothes to go right outside and get to exercising by playing some basketball. Anyway it is now 10:11 pm and the lights still may be on at the school nearest me but if not I will be walking to another one that may or may not have lights on. All I know is I want to get some hoops in tonight. It didn't happen for various reasons on the 13th and it can't happen again.

Oh and in good news my aunt wrote me back telling me what I would need for the work I would be doing and informed me that she was not even thinking about having me come down there this weekend as they are busy. That is good news as I wanted it to be the following week at the earliest. My Uncle Johnny who is taking over racing the horses btw will be in Sarnia (where I live) to write the test to get back his license. I am not sure if that is all he has to do as I remember him in the past accumulating points by driving in qualifiers but anyway soon there will be someone to drive two of the horses that are ready for the track right now.

It's nice to see a human (and equestrian!) project for a change.
I know this is a Tek site, but I'm sure our fellow members have other talents besides arguing over whether AMD or Nvidia is better.
I also had mental health issues affect my project, but I think I'm over that for now.

Good luck.

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So glad to hear you believe you are over your mental health issues for now that were affecting you. Let us hope they stay away for good.

Further Day 3 Update -

July 14th -

3 sets of 10 stomach vacuum
255 full waist twists (also added some while playing hoops using the basketball as some weight)
1 hour of basketball (shooting, various types of dribbling, layups .... still can't speed up on the court to make the workout there even harder)
6 x 8 second sprints with 10 second rest between sprints (increase from 5 from other days I have done this)

... and I expect to add more before I go to bed which will count towards my July 14th total.

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That's not going to happen. I used to be a designer and before that an engineer, but my MI is so bad that I am disabled and living on Social Security. (the dole = poor & bored) The good news is now that I have been in treatment for a while, when I have an episode, I can recognize it, fight it with the "tools" I've learned and get out of the Danger Zone quicker. In my case there is no cure or medication, I have to learn how to better manage it.

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Day 4 Update

July 15th -

As usual I have had trouble going to sleep and so I decided to do leg lifts and set a new personal best of 86 (20, 21, 22 and lastly 23 ... all done with minimal pause in between). I definitely need to try and take the pain and do more stomach work as that is where all my fat is at.

Tonight I got some hoops in. I put in a pretty intense workout for me. The odd thing is when the lights went out at the school I started shooting better and was shooting well over 90%. Absolutely crazy!

Still some things left to do tonight but I am not sure how much more exercise I will get in. All I know is despite working out constantly I am still having a hell of a time sleeping and my sleep pattern has been reversed. :S This is not good.

Day 5 Update -

July 16 -

24, 25, 26 and then 27 leg lifts for a total of 102 with of course 27 being my new high single for leg lifts

3 sets of 10 stomach vacuum

... and later in the evening after feeling so warmed by the helpfulness of my son's mom I felt an energetic lift. It wasn't much energy but it got me to have an awesome time with my son playing street hockey at Lambton College. We used a few hockey balls and a puck and my son was in his new full goalie gear which was awesome. Now in regards to my effort I ran hard for quite a bit of it and was firing shot after shot at this goalie in front of me and while it was darn fun it was also good exercise that I needed to add to my day. Oh and for the record I was just going to go home and shoot hoops but when I thought of the nice thing my son's mom did for me I realized I needed to suck it up even if I was tired and sad and do something nice for someone and so I played with my son. I am so glad I did as we were both smiling and laughing throughout the time we played and he got to get some use out of his new gear which he really wanted to do.

Nice seeing you doing better and better. I heard physical activity helps with frequent mood swings so it's great seeing you do what is good for you :D

Day 6 Update -

July 17 -

100 jumping jacks .... and the funny thing is after doing that number of them I did a search and found a site that said this was a number to aim for daily and that the exercise many of us learned as young kids is a valid exercise and thus I will be adding this to my daily regiment.

550 full waist twists (twisting right then back = 1)

1 x 38 leg lifts (I could really feel it on the stomach and as I am typing this my stomach is still wondering what that was about and trying to sort itself out. LOL!)

Multiple reps of 30 leg lifts (no exact number but it was likely 4 or 5 sets/reps)
Well to close out the evening (possibly) in terms of exercise I just played 2 hours of ball hockey with my son. I got yet another blister but it is in a spot where it burst and kind of dried up quick. Still though another Band-Aid to put on as it still needs to be covered. Oh and speaking of injuries of course when my son forgot to wear his jock strap he gets hit in the nuts. LOL! Funny thing to was when it was the last shot of the day he goes into a front snow angel move and has his helmet up and he is looking around and I nail him right in the helmet/head with a slap shot and yes I was trying to. We were laughing so hard after that. : ) I thought he had a good time and he did to a point but it became obvious on the ride home with things he said he wished he was playing with others and also playing in a league still for hockey (the ice hockey men's league is over cuz organized kid's hockey is taking up the ice time). While his mom and I were disappointed in how he said it I understand dealing with reality and that is he is 16 and he doesn't want to be around his parents as much. I get it. I just wish teens wouldn't do things the teen way. :S Also he has been asking for me to do stuff for some time now and I had refused many times due to my illness creating situations that just were not good for him to be around me. Finally when I do something a second time with him he goes and says what he says. Thing is I have said similar though in that I need more than family. You need a social circle. Anyway we ended the day with me buying him supper when his mom was going to pick up the tab but I said no and I delivered it to him at her house and he yelled down that he had a good time and I told him I got him supper and that I loved him. That is what matters.

I can do all the exercise in the world and if I don't have love in my life in any form none of it will matter. My deep thought for the day.

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Day 7 Update -

July 18 -

So mentally I was already feeling like my day was going to be wasted on just doing the same thing I have been doing but I then thought well let me exercise my mind and so I am back working on the site called Khan Academy which was recommended to me by my CMHA worker. I wish I had something more to do as in a job to go to but this will have to suffice right now. I am exercising the body but I need to also feed the mind. I think that besides doing practice school work I really need to get to reading up on horse groomer's skills / jobs and while I can do some of that if not all of it on the internet I haven't really gravitated towards that. I do not enjoy sitting at a computer with everything and so either today or at least some time this week I will get to one of our libraries and see what I can find to read about being a groomer.

Update:

Well I didn't get to library to do anything as I passed out in the afternoon after talking in a depression chat room. I went there looking for some help on a certain issue and I instead ended up trying to help someone for hours on end and finally said to the person I needed to go as talking about depression whether it be my issues or someone else's was wearing me out.

The good news is this evening I got in some hoops but surprisingly late at night some younger teens came by as I was playing and I was shooting bricks and doing everything wrong and they got lippy and I lost it and went off on them. I didn't need to hear smart ass remarks from anyone especially some punk kids. Quite frankly I said, "Do you see me playing in the NBA? The answer is no so fuck off and go home to your mom and dad who don't give a crap about you as they let you out this late." It was something like that. I don't think I said the last part but I did tell them to fuck off and go home. Now should I have said all I said? Some would say no and would recommend just saying nothing but I was in no mood for bull crap tonight.

So anyway I am off to McDonald's at 12:20 am as I don't want to be home and sure as hell don't want to try to sleep as it never works right lately anyway.

I am not in a good state of mind for sure but still during a bad day I got well over an hour of hoops in and I did go back to learning on that free online school so there were some positives.

Update:

I got in 3 sets of 10 stomach vacuum exercises.

NEVER do this if you also suffer from depression. Take care of YOURSELF first. Depressed people can have a negative effect even on some healthy people.

You should read Marcus Aurelius' Meditations. Everyone should read it.

@ImprovizoR I really appreciate what you said here as I truly think you are right. In regards to reading this book I will look for it in the future. I just hope it only involves meditation and not yoga.

Day 8 Update -

July 19 -

1 x 100 jumping jacks
1 x 50 full twists
1 x 75 full twists
1 x 60 jumping jacks
3 x 10 stomach vacuum
1 hr+ hoops ( ... and not expecting to see my son I got to play a game of 1 on 1 vs my son who beat me 2-0. We only played to two baskets and will be increasing it gradually each time we play whenever as I need to do it that way.)
1 x 60 second jog
1 x 120 second jog
unknown amount of time - speed walking home from McDonald's (diet drink and just a McDouble ... with a soft serve cone :S) so I burned some of the calories off from that snack

The title is deceiving. It's not about literal meditation at all. It's about stoicism.

June 20 -

7.8 km speed walking to and from Subway with a stop at RCSS on the way back having me carrying over 5 lbs. of groceries the last 1/3 of the walk (and did a speed walk like this last night I believe to and from McDonald's so not as long or tough a speed walk but I did it)

35 minutes of relaxed road hockey with a puck outside just stick handling and shooting

600 full twists (new personal best)

3 x 10 stomach vacuum

1 x 47 leg lifts (new personal best)

3 x 30 left lifts (less than a 3 minute break between each set but I really wish I knew if it mattered.)

and at one point in the day I did 50+ minutes of jogging/running and dancing which I did most of to this last song I finished with ...

July 20?

Also, damn. You're making some awesome progress on paper. Hows it feeling?

less than a 3 minute break between each set but I really wish I knew if it mattered.

Breaks between sets depend on your goals. For weight loss, it's ideal to have lower breaks. For muscle mass gain, either way works, but people tend to go up to 3 or 4 minutes between sets, depending on the personal situation.

General rule of thumb I use is to take a 70-140 second break and then increase that if you feel like you're going to pass out. There's no point in pushing yourself past your breaking point. That said, the closer you can get to it, the more progress you'll see.

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Honestly @SgtAwesomesauce I am mentally drained but not from the exercise. It is knowing that the fear from my anxiety will likely stop me from taking the next steps which are after getting in shape. I am afraid of really living and my big goals of working with horses with my aunt under real scrutiny this summer and moving to Ottawa to go to a full day adult high school which I have always needed are things I don't think I can do. My anxiety disorder that developed 31 years ago after being that scared kid afraid to go to school and found in a closet at home is still with me unfortunately.

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I have the same challenges sometimes as well. Usually it helps if I get up before 10AM and I always say to myself "Today is going to be a good day" out loud a couple times in the morning. See, part of anxiety, I've noticed, (I am not a doctor, so reasonable precaution and whatnot) is making sure you're in the right mindset. I used to put sticky notes on my bathroom mirror and in other places I go regularly that said things like "you're looking good today" and "today is going to be just swell" Keeping it happy and a little humorous can have a majorly positive impact on my day. YMMV, but it may be worth checking out.

I also found that I'm happier when I don't play games a lot. I'm not sure how much time you spend on games, but if it's more than 3 or so hours a day, try cutting back a little bit. I get what I like to call "reality drop." It's basically where I'm having this amazing time kicking ass in the game. My adrenaline is pumping, endorphins are flowing, I'm smiling, Score is going up, yada yada. Then I leave the game and get back to real live and it's just blah... When I've been away from friends for a week or more, I get the same thing when I hang out with them for a while. I'm sitting in the car on the way home thinking "damn, that was fun, but now I'm sad."

Moral of the stories is this: You're doing great so far and I've got faith in you. I'd be happy to help you out and provide support however I can.

things I don't think I can do.

I didn't think I could make it through high school. Or get a job. Or hold a job. Or find a woman I loved. Point being, we all have things we don't think we can do.

You've got this and I'm here for you 100% of the way.

Also, sorry for the late reply.

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