Adarq.org

Yo! Still around!

I've been doing training with a close friend who is a trainer and highland games competitor, and recently started his own gym with some other really strong guys in Utah. Numbers are about back to where they used to be and I'm hoping to set some PRs in the next few months.

All my individual updates are logged for me and on the off-season training group on facebook I'm doing with him and some other guys.

I'll be posting PRs here as they happen, but not much else. Most of my focus has just gone to healthier eating and I've been getting better at cooking lol.

Not at all related to me, but one of my older brothers recently hit 500lbs on deadlift at 180lbs bodyweight... so that's coool

  back

scoob why aren't you bragging about that shit on here?! that's cool!

Been doing an awesome job of meal planning lately. Cooked for the entire week and now I just reheat stuff. I've always known how to do that, but some mental thing made it hard to keep up with for some reason. Girlfriend has helped a ton with this.

No major PRs to speak of. Fall into winter is the busiest time of year so I've just been focused on morning bodyweight routines for maintenance/flexibility/tension issues I always get.

On a more somber note, several weeks ago a director friend from nearby passed away. He had battled brain cancer for the past year. This Sunday was his "celebration of life". At the end, we did a New Orleans style procession out to his high school's stadium while playing When the Saints Go Marching In, then played some tunes in his memory.

He enjoyed taking jumping pics with friends so a bunch of us did one in his memory at the end. Somber day, but the service was great and playing tunes in his memory I think put everyone more at peace. Overall a great sendoff to someone I didn't know as well as I'd like to, but really admired.  Just today someone posted the jumping pic and I was surprised to see how high I was jumping without really trying. People like him motivate me to stay strong and I'm always a bit more motivated by them to take advantage of my health and youth while I have it. So for that, RIP and thanks to Ian.

Been trying to login on and off for like 6 months now and only recently realized emails for password reset were going to my spam... after they didn't show up a couple times I kept thinking it was just sent to an old email that I don't use anymore that I haven't been able to recover.

Anyyyway. I've been less focused on any kind of maxes, especially for weight lifting lately. In the spring I finally got a primary care physician after my girlfriend had been bothering me about it for a while (she's a surgical nurse). Turns out it's not exactly healthy/normal for your heart to beat as forcefully as mine does, so after several different doctor visits due to serious fatigue increasingly weird sleep habits (like straight up passing out for 3 whole hours after work sometimes) I've been mostly focused on general health and some cardio.

Went through multiple check ups, EKGs multiple times at different types of tests, an echocardiogram, and finally a stress test on a treadmill. Concensus from my primary and from the cardioligist is: that heart murmur I found out about ages ago in high school is an diastolic murmur (which is slightly less common, not a big deal though), most likely caused by the fact that I have a bicuspid aortic valve (2 flaps instead of the 3 most people have) and that has caused "minor calcification" of my aortic valve which sounds scarier than it really is. Cardiologist recommended slightly more cardio or just general activities that can get my heart rate up, but apparently it's not a huge issue. (EDIT: Oh after the stress test they said I had early repolarization? Not entirely sure what that affects, but they said it wasn't super serious)

Bits of cardio like walking to work and random walks in general along with just a ton of practice cooking better food lately have slowly been fixing my weird sleep patterns and I'm starting to regain my old energy. Been way less productive than I used to be due to the weird sleep habits but things seem to be returning to normal.

Need some serious accountability to keep up with this because I still feel my motivation slip some days, so I'm hoping to actually log even the mundane activities here and maybe get some of you to annoy me as often as you remember to keep me on top of this stuff (seriously, send me messages, find my facebook or instagram and just spam me asking if I've worked out that day).  For those of you who bothered to read this whole thing (probably just darqui LBSS at this point lol) thanks for all the help and encouragement over the years. Hasn't exactly been a straight path, but this has always felt like a place I can vent and get help and support no matter what my health/fitness goals were.

welcome back. big ups for going to the doctor and making sustainable lifestyle changes. good habits > *, as you know.

a suggestion from my n=1 experience last year: if you want a good routine to start to build some general fitness again you could do way worse than following something from GMB.io.  no equipment, do it at home, scales to your current ability really well. walking plus their elements or integral strength programs would do you well.

Interesting suggestion. I've been much more interested in anything just related to body movement and flexibility since my job mostly has me standing a lot, at a desk, or conducting. all fairly repetitive and not very helpful to proper useful body movement in a way that's enjoyable. Will try the 1 week thing starting today to see how I like it

wb!

next time just message me on FB if you need help logging in..... lmao!

welcome back. big ups for going to the doctor and making sustainable lifestyle changes. good habits > *, as you know.

x2!

that really sucks about the heart stuff.. glad you got it checked and have a better idea of what's going on. hopefully some of the things you're doing help considerably.



as far as routines go etc, just create a few primary guidelines and follow them:
1. have fun
2. do it consistently
3. stay healthy

if you want, mix it up alot. as long as you're having fun & staying consistent, it'll fall in to place. you'll figure out what you want to do eventually, but the consistency needs to be there.

but definitely keep health #1. avoid dumb stuff, and stuff that's too risky/causes too much fatigue/soreness etc.

as far as accountability goes etc, people on here can help, we can also provide feedback in your journal etc, but it really comes from within. Make that mental adjustment as soon as possible, because it's very important IMHO.

eventually, find something you care about improving, even if it's just one thing, and track it "obsessively". Even if it's just one exercise (like pullups), track it (on here or in a spreadsheet etc). Don't let it slip. Post big PR's in the PR's/PB thread. Maybe create a "summary post" and link it in your sig, something you modify each time & can refer to easily (check my sig ). After a while it becomes a habit and you'll feel "bad" about not tracking it -> which means it's harder to slack. Because if you want to track it, you have to do it, and you have to do it consistently, etc.. ;f

look forward to seeing you get back into it!!