What is your go-to workout?

5 total today. My buddy (my barber) and I almost killed each other! Good times. Lol.

 

Wow! 5 at 5 is a great turn-out. Glad you guys survived the class. Lol

 

10 today on a Friday. I’m so tired I’m playing hooky from work. Oops.

 

Wow! That is so impressive. What a strong group of people. Hope you had fun playing hooky

 

I have been moving around a lot by car doing some land deals and visiting old friends.

I'm just making sure I eat right and get 10k steps right now.

 

I thought that my 2 weeks off from structured workouts would be relaxing and fun. Instead, I felt stressed and like I was drowning in grief. I think it was a necessary part of the process. This was a stressful 3 months, but I have hope for the end of this year.

Today was Day #1 of a 12 week program that I started today. It was a total body workout and I feel really strong and good.

Since I have a tendency to be an overachiever and have a problem with overtraining and yoyo-ing, I'm going to do my best to follow this program to the T.

Dinner was a NY Steak and some kabocha pumpkin from the garden.

I'll be working on this program until February. Wish me luck!

What are you working on?

 

Yesterday was what the program calls a "trigger session." I practiced stomach vacuums, kegels, and bird dogs for 3 sets of 10. I ended the day with yin yoga. I really like yin and have been practicing it every night before bed. I'm sleeping better than I have in a very long time, but the dreams are still very vivid (luckily not nightmares though.) It's very slow and each stretch or pose is held for 2-5 minutes. I'm shocked by how challenging the "sphinx pose" feels for me. It seems so simple. I think it's a sign that I'm on the right track in trying to strengthen my posterior chain.

Today is a total body workout, but I'm going to have lunch first and do it when the sun goes down. The dark and rainy season is here and it's affecting my step count, but I'm just going to go with the flow and not worry about it too much. I'm still going to try to get 10,000 steps per day.

Currently Reading:

I just finished reading "The House of My Mother: A Daughter's Quest for Freedom" by Shari Franke and it was actually really sad, interesting, and well-written. I'm very sad that Shari and her family had to go through this and hope that they are all healing. Have any of you heard of these people? Here's the description for the book:
From eldest daughter Shari Franke, the shocking true story behind the viral 8 Passengers family vlog and the hidden abuse she suffered at the hands of her mother, and how, in the face of unimaginable pain, she found freedom and healing.

Shari Franke’s childhood was a constant battle for survival. Her mother, Ruby Franke, enforced a severe moral code while maintaining a façade of a picture-perfect family for their wildly popular YouTube channel 8 Passengers, which documented the day-to-day life of raising six children for a staggering 2.5 million subscribers. But a darker truth lurked beneath the surface—Ruby’s wholesome online persona masked a more tyrannical parenting style than anyone could have imagined.

As the family’s YouTube notoriety grew, so too did Ruby’s delusions of righteousness. Fueled by the sadistic influence of relationship coach Jodi Hildebrandt, together they implemented an inhumane and merciless disciplinary regime.

Ruby and Jodi were arrested in Utah in 2023 on multiple charges of aggravated child abuse. On that fateful day, Shari shared a photo online of a police car outside their home. Her caption had one word: “Finally.”

For the first time, Shari will reveal the disturbing truth behind 8 Passengers and her family’s devastating involvement with Jodi Hildebrandt’s cultish life coaching program, “ConneXions.” No stone is left unturned as Shari exposes the perils of influencer culture and shares for the first time her battle for truth and survival in the face of her mother’s cruelty.

What are you currently reading or listening to?

 

It sounds like you're on a great track! Keep doing what you're doing! Land deals and visiting friends sounds exciting. I'm noticing a drop in steps myself with the shorter days and stormy weather. Still trying to get at least 10,000 steps like you.

 

It’s nice to see you pushing forward, SB! I am at deer camp, so this is pretty much a 10 day break!

 

12 attendees Thursday morning, 5AM. Leg-locks were the technique being taught. I plan on dialing in two, the Achilles lock and the heel hook. Ouch!

 

Thanks Crafty! I hope you're enjoying deer camp so far. Hope you will have a Happy Thanksgiving week!

 

12 attendees is so good! What's your secret to these early mornings? Are you a coffee drinker? Those leg locks sound Intense! It's good to make use of all the limbs

 

Week #2/12 is here! I'm doing my best to trust the process and the fact that it is possible to get results without over training.

 

I do drink coffee, 4AM. Lol. I’m usually awake before my alarm goes off unfortunately. The brain is programmed. Lol.

 

Definitely an early riser! What time do you head to bed? I've been trying to get better about sleep and sleep quality. This week I started waking up a little earlier 7am and that helps me feel tired by the end of the day.

 

This week is a weird one... I had a great total body workout on Monday and I did my scheduled core work yesterday, but today we started remodeling our bathroom in the main house so we are temporarily in our guest house. I'm too lazy to move all of my weights to this house again so I'm doing tomorrow's planned session today and I'm going to try to do today's total body workout tomorrow. Then a contractor is coming to finish the job on Friday so I'll move Friday's workout to Saturday.

Today I felt super exhausted, but I think it's because I only had one coffee and usually I have 3-4.

On another note, yesterday when we were driving home, we saw 2,000 cars heading up to the national park (probably to see episode #37 of the lava eruption.) In my mind that reinforced my reasons for not wanting to see it in person. Imagine trying to evacuate an area on a 1 lane road through a sea of cars? Call me paranoid, but I think anything could happen. We also had a pretty strong earthquake last night.

How is your week going? Do you have fun plans for Thanksgiving?

 

I’m usually asleep by 8:30 or 9. Lol.

 

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend! This was probably the most relaxing Thanksgiving I've ever had and it was really nice.
Remember how I was going to do all of that schedule shuffling to accommodate the remodeling projects in the main house? Well, I decided to completely pivot and take the rest of the week off. I didn't want to move all of my equipment over just for a few days. This is so not like me. I usually love to pack in the workouts during Thanksgiving week. I haven't even been doing yoga, but I have been doing my hip and hamstring stretches.
For the first time in years, my lower back and right hip isn't bothering me and I'm sleeping better than I have in a long time. I think that this time the rest is paying off.
I plan on starting over with week #2 tomorrow.
How was your Thanksgiving and what are your plans for this upcoming week?

 

Lol that makes a lot of sense!

 

Happy December! November felt so messy with emotions and grief. Last night I had such a defeatist / what's the point mentality.

Thank goodness I always feel so much better and more hopeful at the beginning of a new month.
Today I restarted week #2/12 and had to split the total body workout into 2 workouts to run errands in between. I'm proud of myself for returning for the 2nd half. My rotator cuff isn't bothering me and I don't feel the pain in my hip or lower back (for the first time in years!) I think Yin yoga before bed is really helping. We also started waking up early and I feel a lot better.

I'm going to practice a daily inversion and am very rusty, but it feels good to be upside down. It's more challenging with ankle weights and the chickens really didn't like my landing. My thoracic spine area is very tight (I probably have a case of "tech neck") and I wasn't able to press up into a tripod with the level of confidence that I used to have during my hula hooping days, but that's okay.
https://youtube.com/shorts/tnRY0688-gE?si=S_8WGYCy9vCrNwjv

How was your November and what are you looking forward to this December?