Day 78 - I've been pushing too many pencils

Sounds like a lot of folks were reaching the end of their energy ropes before the last diet update, myself included. So it will be interesting to see if the upped amounts help sustain the pace for the remaining days.


So, on reflection, I believe I may have strained my lower left back attempting to do all the v-sits when I shouldn't have. I'm fairly certain that is when it started. I've also been noticing that standing or prepping food in the kitchen for any length of time results in pain between my shoulders within about 10-15 minutes. And for the first time, when doing my skips in the morning, that same lower left area started aching towards the end which was new. So, some not-so great developments on the back front in terms of pain (physically the developments have been great). Been going for three days now, so I'm stretching a bit extra and trying to make sure I am limber before I do jumps or work out. Hope I don't have to ride this to the end.


Coops talking about his now ill-fitting tailored shirts reminded me... before we headed out for our friend's engagement party last week I tried on some jeans I hadn't worn in 5 years and low and behold a perfect fit! That means that I have gone from a 38 to a 33/32 for this particular brand. Not too shabby. And Kim has given me hope that the tailor can likely take in the ridiculous amount of slack there is on a number of other pants and shorts, so fingers crossed there.


Workout

1. Jumprope: On Noel's advice of a few weeks ago I finally crumbled and ordered a new leather rope as I am desperate to see if anything might possibly make a difference. Was good to get the coincidental email from Patrick today as well, so I'll have to try out those suggestions as well. My jumps are so unbelievably inconsistent I just can't nail down what the issue(s) may be... I try to only change one thing at a time so I can see if there is a difference, but to no avail. Different hand positions (x,y, and z). Different length rope. Different speeds. Sometimes its bliss... I can manage hundreds in a row with nary an issue. And then, as has more recently been the case, I am tripping over and over and over. As much as 5-10 times in a given minute on a bad set. Extremely frustrating at this late stage. Perhaps its just psychological... as punishment for a particularly bad set I usually tack on an extra 100 to 200, the game being that if I can't finish two lots of 50 without a trip I have to add another. Weirdly, done this way I rarely have to do more than 200. So, unlike Nike, perhaps its not enough to Just Do It... I need to Just Do It, but with a psychological spike on top for good measure. C'mon dammit, just do it!:
   
   
2. Pistol Squats: always awkward, but getting better... less reliant on the stablizing surface. Amazing discrepancy in leg strength is apparent though between my left and right legs.
3. Floorjumps: Hmmmmmm... tough, but for the first time I wasn't all over the floor after the last few sets. Unexpected.
4. Chicken Wing: Difficult but not as hard as some of the other shoulder exercises.
5. Shoulder Press: Continue to be brutal. Last two sets are to failure each time.
6. Shoulder Fly: I can really feel these in the backs of my shoulders. 
7. V-Sits: I'm fairly certain I stressed out my lower back trying to knock these all out last time, so I took it easier this time. Might have to find a replacement exercise since I can only get through two and a half sets properly and its really jerky in the last three.
8. Side crunches: Tough but doable
9. 8MA... sans Kim. Although I did manage to solve the previous "issue" and now have a high powered fan between the two of us, full blast on her to keep the "issues" at bay however frequently they are issued.