Primal Challenege- AppalachianMatt page 18

[AppalachianMatt]

Back into the swing of things. I started my new workout routine 2 weeks ago and today beigns week 3. I feel great as my energy is consistent, my nutrition is back on track and my attitude is more confident and positive. Over the past few weeks I have focused mainly on core movements; push-ups, situps, dips, squats and lunges, but over thw eeekdn I realized that while I do feel very good I was becoming complacent and thats a dirty word to me. When one becomes complacent they get lazy and start to make excuses. Doing 175 push-ups a day can get old and boring so I decided to kick it up a notch.

On Friday I went out and hit the heavy bag for about 10 minutes and the workout I got was ridiculous. I was instantly destressed from a long week and felt brand new again. In my golden years I taught hand-to-hand with my Army unit and would occasionally be deployed stateside to assist in various training programs. I loved it. The idea of pitting yourself against someone else puts you on edge and brings the best out of me. I need to be challenged and constantly so I have incorporated fighting into my routine; kicking, punching, kneeing. To increase the intensity of workouts I have also began combos of punching, squats and kneeing which is killer. One it makes me feel even more confident if a situation ever arises where I need to protect myself or my family but also its a great COre workout as well as Cardio.

Keep Calm and Chive on my friends. This is going to be a killer week.

[AppalachianMatt]

Good morning all. It is a beautiful Monday morning (rain headed in) and I'm loving the beginning of Spring. We had the most beautiful weekend, sunny skies and 70-75 degrees with a lite breeze. We spent almost the entire weekend outside either playing in the backyard or building our raised garden. My son can't get enough of the outdoors and my daughter could play in the yard for hours on end.

Yesterday I didn't work out and today may be a bit of a rest after I built the raised garden. Last year we used wood as the wall from a tree we cut down in the front yard but decided ot chop it up this year so we can use the wood for out fire pit and make the garden look a little more professsional. Sunday mornign after breakfast (5 eggs, 2 strips of bacon and sweet potato hash browns) we went to Home Depot and bought 60 stones for the garden (2 trips) and I carried them to the bgackyard, dug out the foundation for them and put them together. I didn't realize how much work it would be but it was worth it. We've been composting for quite some time and the soil I shoveled in was absolutely beautiful. I didn't get a chance to plant anything yet due to a birthday party but we'll get that done this week. Our goal is to supplement 25-30% of our veggies from our garden and to teach the kids the importance of ebing self reliant. Of course my 3 year old son loves playing in the dirt so this should be a breeze for him.

Whie I am sore from lifting heavy things yesterday I still plan on doing about 125 squats and some stairs. I'll also do some push-ups but with my shoulder beig a touch sore it'll probably be limited and just to get some movement. I sit all day so I break up my workouts to keep an even energy level throughout the day.

Hope everyone has a great day and remember that we get out of the day what we put into it.

[AppalachianMatt]

I found a great website yesterday that really motivated me to try new things. I have always had a fascination with working out on a pull-up bar. The possibilities are endless and after being introduced to www.madbarz.com I have decided its itme to build a pull-up bar set in the backyard. While doing a little research I ran across Al Kavadlo's youtube video of he and his brother building a set in the backyard and with that I found the perfect design that will afford me the ability to do a wide variety of exercises.

I showed the wife the video and she's on board. Now Al's video didn't have exact measurements but that won't be hard to find nor build. I just need some good weather, the water and gas company to come out and let me know where my lines are and hopefully this weekend or next it will be built. All day I have been watching various training videos and I know it will take time to build the necessary strength to do a lot of the things I want to do. But this would permanently replace the need for a gym as well as give the whole family a place to workout outside and play. My son is going to go crazy on this thing and it'll be a great way to train together but have fun doing so.