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Tag: weight loss

Saturday mid day means Rock Climbing Session at The Hub Markham.

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It’s quickly becoming one of the best parts of my week, and I look forward to it as soon as my forearms, and hands stop hurting from the strain. In other news the climbing is helping my weight loss. I’m now into the 195lb range, down from 213lbs, so that’s cool. I think that more climbing, and further weight loss will both be positive things at this point in my life. I definitely don’t forsee myself getting down to 175lbs by years end, but in another two pounds I’ll have dropped a full twenty this year, and that’s cool. I can be happy with that, sort of.

I have stuck with the auto belay climbing these last three sessions, but I want to give bouldering a go sometime soon. I think that when I go back on tuesday or wednesday I will try it then. I managed to climb more routes last week than ever before, so let us hold to that upward trajectory. Or try harder routes for a change. Or be willing to struggle on the really hard stuff a bit more before giving up for easier climbs. I could probably rest a bit more in between climbs, but I know how tired I’ll get, and I can always rest, or call it a day earlier and just wait for my kids to finish. It’s a toss up. I can go hard and rest towards the end, or rest inbetween and still be tired but get fewer climbs in. Either way the lactic acid is building up in my forearms/hands and will stop me from climbing. I say, go hard for as long as I can take it, then rest & stretch it out.

Bouldering section.
A nice climb to start my day.
A challenge which I managed to figure out.

I think that Santa Clause might bring us some chalk bags, chalk and an auto locking carabiner for the holidays this year. I for one hope that we continue to climb into the new year. It’s a lot of fun. Does make playing the guitar more difficult for 48/72 hours afterwards, but if I use or rely on my legs more, I can try to curb that pain a fair bit.

I don’t think I’m going to go whole hog on climbing, by making it my new identity or anything, but I am enjoying it for the moment. I have been looking at climbing tips on YouTube since I don’t currently have any climbing friends, just my kids whom are also novices, like myself. Though, they are receiving instruction, whereas I am not. I had the intro orientation, but no climbing talk, just safety stuff. Better than nothing.

I did buy us a twelve dollar bottle of liquid chalk because as my hands get progressively weaker, sweatier and more slick, I was hoping to regain some stick to it-ness via the chalk use. Works a bit, but when I have to stop climbing it’s because I can nolonger close my hand/thumb with any reliability. At least not if I want to hang any weight from that grip. So, I should have exhausted legs as well, but I rarely do, so that tells me I’m not using my legs enough. Improved form should help with that.

I went climbing for the first time at some place in Comox, with my oldest brother, and his kid. I think we all went as a family, prior to my having any children that is, so it was atleast ten years ago or longer. And I hated the auto belay system because you have to put full weight on it for it to kick in, and the whole time it felt like I could just fall off the wall and plummet forty feet to the ground.  So this time around I was ready for that sensation, and believed in it, and didn’t have the same panic when climbing. Good to know. It’s one thing to hear about it, and another to experience it, and be comfortable with it. The slight delay in the autobelay rope descent that is.

Still sorting out the shoes though. The size 13’s were more comfortable, but the squashed big toe is really unpleasant. In the new year I might invest in my own harness at least. They are sixty bucks. I can handle that. But the shoes are crazy. Well over that price, starting around $225.00 for men’s moderate, firm toes. Not there yet.  Not by a long shot.

I wonder if the parking situation is any better when they open during the week? It’s absolutely full when we get there on saturdays. Have to park at one of the surrounding buildings, or across the road at the Tim’s. Weather is getting mighty cold for parking that far away if you ask me.

Happy saturday morning, the last day of November 2024. Ciao Bella!

Pulling muscles and exposing weaknesses.

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To say that my fitness journey has been rocky is a vast understatement. My goal of getting down under 200lbs has stalled, stopped, started, faultered, and sputtered more than it has actually delivered any results, and mainly because I haven’t been able to keep with it for more than a week to ten days at a time.

I was moving along at a fair pace during winter, until I caught Covid during March break. And since I’ve had EBV fairly recently, like late 2015, I wasn’t in a rush to have SARS2 kickstart that virus back up again, nor risk any Long Covid symptoms so I gave myself twelve weeks less a day before I picked up my weights, and actually got physically active again. Then we got into summer and our travel plans and I did not ship my weights, nor my bike along with us. And now I’m home, heading into the fall, and I have done only a day or two of exercise in the last month or more. I tried pull ups in the park the other day, and did a horizontal zip line type thing, and the muscles through my chest and abdomin are screaming bloody murder at me. So no sit ups just yet. No body weight hangs either!

I do fantasize about doing a proper free weights regimen, or getting into cycling, or Crossfit again, but ultimately I want to lose weight, get into better shape, but not spend much money at all to do so. So much like my writing, I need to convert action into habits, and fit it into my every day without fanfare or bluster. I know I will NEVER wake up early just to exercise, but I would stay awake 10-15 minutes more to fit in a quick jumble through some minor movements, provided I don’t make myself all sweaty after having showered for bed already.

Whatever – point is, my physical fitness is lacking, my discipline and motivation to get in and do anything is an uneven ebb and flow. I need to change it from an event to a habit, and that requires a mental shift I haven’t been able to replicate since 615 days ago when I started writing every day. And in most cases my blog post is more like an uneventful journal entry, and not the short stories, or long form writing I had intended it to be. Still going though! So that’s something.

My weight is hovering around 203-206lbs, and my goal is to reach 185lbs, and then possibly continue to 175lbs, and then remain close to that goal weight. Heavy enough to remain substantial, but not heavy enough to really harm my joints, knees, hips, ankles etc… take some pressure off of my abdomin, try to reduce my snoring too. Do my best to reduce all these new jiggly bits. Size down the stomach an inch or two so that my pants fit more comfortably. I don’t need to go back to a size 30 waist, but to be comfortable in 32’s would be beneficial for my wardrobe. That would open back up all the nicer menswear I had to put away as I got heavier. My dress shirts would all become wearable, same with my suits, sport coats, and jackets. All my medium t-shirts could come out of retirement too. Oh to dream. Ha. But I need to do it though. Wishing and wanting don’t seem to get me more than a day or two in. Going to HAVE to do things. Eat smaller portions, and be more active. Walk more. Squats, push ups, sit ups, lunges, burpees, running, cycling, swimming, lifting weights, stretching. Some, all, or a combination of the above. Consistently. For weeks and months on end.

Don’t worry, I won’t leave you hanging. I will be sure to report in regarding how things progress, or not. It’s a shame Fitbit’s are so pricey, a cheap step counter might be my best Avenue in. I like seeing a visual goal, and then reaching or exceeding something that I can see might work in my favour. Doubtful. Just an excuse to spend money. Though, I bet I can find my wife’s old first gen fitbit somewhere. Hmm.

At home, the battle for soft water rages on.

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Awoke this fine Saturday morning in early July to the sound of my water softener running a cycle. Not good. It is programmed to run at 2:00am, so it was stuck flushing, or in some other portion of the cycle. From what I learned before, parts 1 through 3 are fine, but returning to home for the final part 4 it hits a snag, and it goes off. First it was Err01, then Err03, and now we have a return to Err01 again. Fun, fun, fun. I have a box from the supplier with some replacement parts, so I hope that sorts things out. I just need to swap out a block of interconnected do-hickies, and hopefully put this thing to rest. Home ownership, this shit never ends. Softener, heaters, furnace, AC unit, fridge, freezer, on and on they cycle. One after the other requiring service, parts, or replacement. Yikes. Makes me want to scream.

Oh! Now I remember what I was going to talk about. Two updates really. One: weight loss – bit of a slow start to be honest. After Covid I put the weight training down for 3 months less a day, to try to avoid causing Long Covid, seems to have worked out. I was able to start lifting and exercising again on the 12th of June. I’m not at my heaviest, which was around 213Lbs, but I’m not far off at 204Lbs. I would like to get myself down to a reasonable 175-180Lbs range, which I think would suit my frame, and not leave me looking unwell, nor “chunked out”. If I had my way I’d be doing olympic style lifting again, but I can’t afford CrossFit gym memberships at this point. That was full time working me, with no kids, and I’m not earning more than half of what I used to. Plus the local gyms here are all machines. I want free weights, and to be able to clank if I need to clank, you know? I tried very hard to always control my weights & bars, but in a pinch, you gotta clank. CLANG-CLANK-CRASH!  So there we are. I need to buy myself a bar, and some smaller plates, and a bench. We have no room for any of it. So there’s that to contend with too. I want, I want, wah-wah-wah. Yes, I hear it. Riding my bike with my oldest isn’t out of the question, but I’d have to take us somewhere remote so we were unaffected by potential traffic, cars or inattentive drivers. I don’t fancy getting my child squashed because I want to loose twenty five pounds.

And two: I’m finally half way through book fourteen, another Mo Hayder book, with eyes on book #15 by Adrian Tchaikovsky. The third installment of a trilogy. Hope it’s a satisfying end! Can’t wait. But in the meantime I’m reading this sad, suspenseful story about distasteful people preying on children and minors, and I’m not thrilled about it. The book is good, but the subject matter is not exactly what I’m craving to read about. I’m not jazzed to read before bed, which is what I would usually do. Now I find the time to read a bit during the day only. So it’s been slow going. Not like “The Grapes of Wrath” slow, but slow enough. I just don’t want to devote hours of my day to read about the SA of small kids. And definitely not about their murders either. Very depressing. Hard on the soul. I know it is fiction, but still. Ugh.

Well this post is all over the place though huh? Malfunctioning household items, weight training and weight loss, and book recco’s. What a Saturday. Ciao Bella!