I’m pretty happy with things at the moment, been a tough week at work this week, what with one thing and another, mostly other people it seems – everybody just seems to go off the deep end really quick at this time of year. Employees do silly things that they wouldn’t usually do, management over reacts etc. Never mind I have the rest of the week off, and go back for xmas eve & xmas day – Joy!!
The windows are all in and completed, the recent rain held up progress on the final touches, and they look great.

Food has been well within 80/20 (except the dreaded diet coke) and the exercise & stretches have been good. I need to do vertical pulls and shoulder stand squats today. It has been a really long 12 hour work day and I have just had dinner (bacon & eggs) and I don’t quite feel like it. If I skip it, it will be the first time I have deviated from my set program since the beginning of the month. This is the best motivation for not skipping tonight, so I will let dinner settle and give it heaps. Considering I often do a workout at 3am on a nightshift, doing one at 10pm shouldn’t seem so bad eh?

Nek minnit….

Ok, so I decided it was time to get to work on the LHT:
Vertical pulls – warm 10/10 Work 40/40/40 – progression standard!!
Shoulder stand Squats – warm 10/10 Work 50/50/50 – progression standard!!
Dynamic stretches – level 2 30 secs
Meditation – 10 mins Seiza

A month or so ago I would have skipped it and had a couple beers instead. I consider this a success, despite the diet coke.

Tomorrow the sun will be shining, I will have a flushable toilet again, and I don’t have to go to work.

Went back to the Dr today to find out why they wanted to see me. I LMAO all the way home again. Turns out the PSA result was excellent, the total cholesterol was only just over the limit for ‘normal’ and was of no concern to her at all. For some reason they also gave me a driver’s medical too and it seems that was a ‘cock up’ (said in the best eastern european accent).

It turns out that the reason they wanted to see me is that my Haemoglobin count is slightly low, which may indicate me being slightly anemic. This means I need to eat more red meat, eggs and veg before another test in 8 weeks time.
I had been dead worried it was cholesterol and thatt I was going to get the spiel about cutting back on eggs, red meat and dairy. LMAO all the way home. Extra half a steak with dinner tonight and some spinach fresh from the garden, along with the usual day’s 4 or so eggs.

Blood pressure was 120/60 – I was like – “yeah this is a comfy chair, and I’m feeling relaxed”.

Harvested a bunch of red onions and pulled a whole lot of weeds.
Rest day for the convict today, but had a Karate class and did stretches there – the CC2 stretches seem to be really helping with the karate stretches.

Windows are all in, some finishing work still needs to be done – next week for that.

Today was a fantastic day.

It was a long week at work, the whole process was in a state of flux, and while I was able to get it settled down, despite a lack of most of the crucial raw materials, I was still being second guessed by everyone who thought they had input to give. Unfortunately they can advise as much as they like, and I do I like to take good advice on board, but whether the advice is right or wrong, they can continue on their way, while I’m the one who must carry the can. I do often seek the counsel of these people, but yesterday I needed to remain resolutely on my own path, and I made that clear. Hopefully I was blunt enough without being nasty. We shall see.

The guys came to start fitting the new windows today, so there was no post shift week sleep-in to be had, I was up early to clear away junk and remove curtain rails etc. They have another day of it tomorrow too, so still no sleep-in on the horizon. I will shoot for an early night tonight.

Today was the day to see the Dr again re my blood test results, however when I got to the surgery, there was a power cut. Did you know that modern drs can’t practice medicine without electricity? Apparently the lab only sends results via email, and all patient records are computerised. The Doc had no clue who I was, or why I was even there, despite sending the letter asking to see me. The receptionist could not rebook me without her PC but promised to call me at home and confirm a new appt when the power came back on. I wrote my name and number down on a piece of paper for them – how old fashioned. Anyway, I go back there tomorrow morning.
So yesterday was a scheduled rest day re exercising, and with all going on I didn’t even get my stretches in.

Today I did level 2 stretches for 15 secs and the vertical pulls and shoulder stand squats. I made the progression standard fairly easily for the pulls, but will stay on this level for the rest of the month, only really 2 more times of that exercise. I beat the intermediate level on the squats, and need to hit progression level on the next work out, as the plan is to get to progression level on the third week, and repeat it on week 4 before moving on in week 5.

Foodwise things have been a good 80/20.

Had an eventful night shift with a lot of plant issues affecting operations. Got home and went directly to bed and was out by the time my head hit the pillow. During the night I had a couple of apples, some HB eggs and some almonds as well as a couple cups of coffee and a hot chocolate.

Slept all day, then went out for dinner with the harem. I had a sirloin steak and veg then had to go directly to work. The scales are back in the region of where they should be again too.

At work I got in my CC2 level 1 stretches. Tomorrow will be hill sprints, and the next day push ups and leg raises. I mentioned a while back that DW had said that my arms had been getting smaller, even with this very slow start on the CC program, I feel like that is being addressed.

The start of the work week for me, and we start with a 12 hour night shift. Yay!
Today’s scale weight has jumped significantly. Beer & fish & chips will do that I guess, I expect it will be back where it needs to be in a couple of days.

It’s brilliantly sunny today, and I just spent 20 minutes out on the back porch, shirtless, grooming the dog. With the change of seasons he is shedding like a mofo. Gave some food scraps to the chickens – they are so funny to watch.

Too bad it wasn’t this sunny earlier in the week – I may have got the new windows installed, instead they postponed due to the weather forecast.  Have to wait until next week now.

I’m really enjoying the CC program, and so today was:
Level 1 stretches – 30 sec
Side kick stretches – 10 a side
Short bridges – warm 2 x 5, work 15/15
Headstand – warm 10 sec, work 30 sec

I also stumbled across this link: http://ironflinger.blogspot.com/2011/06/can-i-do-this-instead-of-that-no.html that also gives me confirmation that the softly, slowly approach will be good.

Then DW, who is a black belt in karate, and a brown belt in two other martial arts, helped me go over the roundhouse stuff I covered in class last night.

Breakfast was a handful of cold offal
Lunch will be steamed mussels and a salad from the garden
Dinner will be slow cooker lamb curry that will cook while I have a nap before work.
Then it will be eat and go.

I noticed the oregano was getting a bit overgrown, so have trimmed it back and have some drying in the oven.

Today is a great day.

A good day today, slept in late, missed the recycle collection, not too big of a deal there. Skipped breakfast and ran some errands in town. Fish & chips for lunch. Got DW a new smart phone, since her phone was positively ancient. She seems pretty happy with it.

Knocked out 5 pullups.
Did the level 1 stretches & 10 a side sidekick stretches.
Had a pretty intense workout at karate tonight, and got to work on roundhouse kicks like a boss.

saw this inspirational quote today too:
“No coach ever won a game by what he knows. It’s what his players learned.”
Paul “Bear” Bryant

I also read something today attributed to a mentor of Pavel Tsatsouline :
“Consistency and moderation over intensity.”
Dr. Jim Wright

That article gives me comfort that my new workout program is the right path to take.