Take care of yourself

43 yesterday, 44 today. After tomorrow's 45, I'm going to take another day off.

After week 1 of Weight Watchers, I'm down 2.6 pounds. As the weight comes off, I'm hoping that the pullups get easier.

Joe

 

45 today, and I broke them up differently than I have been.

After the first session where I did 15, I did five at a time to make up the other 30. I was able to use different grips than just the palms facing. Overhand, underhand, one over and one under, palm facing with over or under.

It might make for better overall strength. It definitely helped my achy elbow. Day off tomorrow, and then the push toward 50 and halfway home.

Joe

 

46 today.

Skipped yesterday because the family made our quarterly pilgrimage to Costco in the big city. By the time we dealt with screaming baby, came home and put up everything, all I wanted to do was sit on the couch and drink beer. Which I did.

Four more days to hit the halfway mark.

Joe

 

47 yesterday, and 48 today.

Weighed in this evening, and I'm down another 1.2 pounds. In another few weeks I'll be back in the land of the 180s heading toward my goal of 170.

Joe

 

49, 50, 51, 52 and 53 today. Just 47 more to go.

On day 51, I started doing squats every day on even numbers: 2, 4, 6 etc. I'll do this until the end of the pullup challenge to get my legs in better shape for the 100-day thruster challenge I'll start when the pullups end.

Joe

 

54 yesterday, and 55 today. Day off tomorrow.

Weighed in today, and I was down another 1.6 pounds, which is kind of amazing because I ate and drank (and drank ...) pretty much all holiday weekend long. Down to 192.8, so in two weeks — max — I'll be back in the land of the 180s. Woo. Hoo.

Joe

Edit: Day off will have to wait until Saturday, when I'll be out of town for a fish fry at the in-laws.

 

56 yesterday, 57 today. My right arm is going to fall off.

With the squats — 14 today — I used my bar and weights that add up to about 45 pounds figuring just that little extra oomph will help more with the thrusters than just air squats.

Joe

 

58 on Friday, 59 on Monday, 60 on Wednesday. My arm feels much better with three days off in the last five, but it's time to suck it up and get to the end. However, I'll probably go three days on, one day of rest the remainder of the way. That means I won't hit No. 100 in 100 days, but no matter.

I'm up to 28 squats with (I weighed it) 41 pounds.

When I weighed in on Tuesday, I was exactly the same as the week before. Not great, but after the weekend of eating and drinking too much, I'll take it.

Joe

 

61 on Friday, and that's where it ends.

I have a constant pain in my right elbow, kind of a burning sensation. Hell, I can feel it when picking up my 3.5-month-old daughter, and I fear I'm risking permanent damage if I continue with the pullups. I thought I could push through, but once I hit the 50s, the pain became a constant, unwelcome companion.

My plan was to do the 100 pullups and then go to the 100-thruster challenge. To that end, I'll give my elbow another three days or so, then I'll start doing shoulder presses while continuing to do squats up to the 50 days of those. By the time those 50 are up, I should be in good shape to tackle the 100 days.

Once — if — my elbow heals sufficiently, I'll start doing pullups again as part of an overall workout, but I'm done with the challenge. Shit.

Joe

 

joe, no shame in stopping if you're elbow is injured.

You've made weight loss progress and are no doubt stronger than when you started, so that's more important than risking permanent damage to hit the 100 pull-up mark.

I think it's safe to say you can do more pull-ups than the rest of the SportsJournalists.com posters ... combined.

Keep on truckin' with the (revised) fitness program.

 

Thanks, Coco.

If I counted correctly, I wound up doing 1,891 pullups.

I tried to do some standing shoulder presses today, and my elbow is still funked up. It might be the weekend before I can start this intermediate phase before the thrusters kick in.

Joe

 

Well, I kind of petered out on doing the squats and shoulder presses to get ready for my 100-day thrusters challenge. But today I started again. The routine for 50 days is even-numbered squats using two 15-lb dumbbells (so 2, 4, 6, etc.) with a 70-lb shoulder press (1, 2, 3, etc.). At the end of the 50 days, I should be ready to start cranking on the 100 days of thrusters.

My elbow is still a little funked up, but it feels much better than it did a month ago.

Joe