If you’re just tuning in… I have only recently blogged about Quarantine Week 7 and now Week 8. I have not been logging each week, in case you’re looking for Weeks 1-6.

But, alas, here I am. WEEK EIGHT of living with shelter in place. Texas is partially open but that doesn’t mean much. I went out to eat on Sunday. It was a joy to be served and to not have to clean dishes! It was nice. But it’s still so weird to be out and about.

My family is still living together peacefully. As I mentioned last week, we workout a lot. I think that helps. And I’m thankful my kiddos are disciplined, not perfect, but disciplined. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that they don’t need a nudge every now and then but they’ve got quarantine life down. They get up early, eat, do school work, eat, workout, eat some more, throw (baseballs), eat, hit (baseballs), mma smackdowns, eat, and fish. Their discipline helps me be disciplined… except with food… cause they can eat EVERYTHING. Sadly, I can not.

But they help motivate me to want to get into the garage (aka gym) and do work. I’m not a solo self-disciplined worker outer. I like community. I like groups. I like keeping a pace with others. But this many weeks in, I’m learning to be good all by my lonesome. I’m finding a peace with it all. I find myself pushing myself harder on the daily. I find myself looking to do more once I’m done with something. It’s strange. It’s exciting. What will happen when life gets busy again? I have no f’ing clue!

As for my workouts, cause I’m doing a smorgasbord of a strength program, walking on the daily, the Onnit6 Challenge and random workouts with friends!

A good friend and former trainer, Travis, hooked me up with a strength program. I’m starting week 3 today and I’m totally getting better… because CONSISTENCY. We all know consistency is key. But y’all for real, just find it in yourself to do something consistently and you will get better! All my percentage work feels good. The accessory work is brutal somedays, but it’s working! I’m looking forward to the GAINZ I should have by week 8! Find Travis here… https://www.thedurantmethod.com/

 

And because I’m a slightly crazy person, I hopped on the Onnit6 Challenge. It’s a 6 week program of light weight, pick your own intensity workouts with yoga and key stretching thrown in. It’s an online, video based workout. I chose the Barbell Program. There are 3 levels per movement and it’s good work! Four of the days are workouts: 15 minutes of warm up stretching, 20-25 minutes of working out, then 12 minutes of cool down stretching! Two of the days are Yoga. I’m not a yoga person, but I’m embracing it for this challenge. It’s hard! And Day 7 is active recovery which is combining the warm up stretching and cool down stretching.

So Week 1 was tough, easy and everything in between! New movements, new ways of approaching the barbell and overall just NEW. Some of the movements I struggled with last week were definitely better and stronger this week. So I was happy with the progress. This new strength I am building is 100% helping me with the rest of my workouts! If you’re interested click here! I’m not gonna lie, this is a “referral link” so if you are interested I get rewarded, but if you aren’t interested, you aren’t interested! I’m in no other way affiliated with this program to “earn” anything. I’m just excited to share something you can do at home, at your pace and your intensity.

And then the rest. I work with a nutrition group, Trevor Kashey Nutrition. That’s a whole other beast of a thing that I won’t drag on about. Maybe for another day. But my support person has tasked me with a minimum of 30 days outside walking. So I already do four days of walking with a friend and we go for an hour. So FOUR days checked off! Ya buddy. The other three… ehhh… I’m trying. Some days I walk to some horses down the road from me and feed them carrots and apples. This a good therapy. I love all the animals! But somedays I struggle with adding that walk! How hard is it? It’s not. But I still struggle! And just recently I’ve added in two garage gym mornings a week with friends. We are kind of winging the workouts as we are just trying find the line of “but did you die” kind of workout. If it weren’t for them coming to my house in the morning, I totally would be sleeping. But it’s good. Starts my day off right.

All of this doesn’t come easy peasy. Yes, I still sit on my couch binge watching something on Netflix, telling myself, just 10 more minutes, get changed, do work… and then still on the couch 30 minutes later! Yes I still sit in my garage and stare at the floor for too long before I suck it up and start moving. Yes I sometimes sit too long between sets, but I’m getting better.

I’m pushing a little more. I’m trying to be an example to all of you are somewhere in the middle like me. You can do this. It doesn’t happen overnight. There’s a good chance you’re gonna feel a ton better, of course after all the soreness, if you’ve been inactive lately. You’re moods are going to be better, you’ll sleep better, you won’t hurt so much after doing the dumbest things. Y’all, I’m middle-aged. I’m a little chunky. I’m a lot of sarcasm. I’m a lot of whiny. But I’m also a lot of get shit done. My expectations of me are different than my 20 or 30 year old self. I want to be fit, I want to be healthy, and I want to be strong mentally and physically! And I’m saying you can be all those things too. It’s not a matter of getting your food right first. It’s not a matter of if you can or can’t. Yes, you may be limited due to something physical, but you can still do things. You just have to do it!

So let’s go! I may not be smaller at the end of this quarantine cause I’m struggling with the foods, but I’m gonna be a whole hell of a lot tougher boys and girls!