Good Morning my friends! To kick things off on the positive, this is The WOW – The Workout of the Week; this is the “(It’s Time To) Level Up Workout”.
I hope everyone had an awesome week last week. It’s going to be a BIG week this week for this dude…It’s time for me to “level up!”. MOVING (with very short notice), on top of my regular busy work schedule, and of course, I gotta get my workouts in! 🙂
I have changes coming in my life. Been sitting on some “acquired skill points” and it’s time to allocate them, and level up!
#LITRPGmuch? – My nerdy friend should get that reference. Seriously though LITRPG is kind of cool – a book that’s like a video game, that’s like crazy action-adventure stuff. It includes some fun gamer references like allocating your points when you level up. #TheLandonAudiblereadbyNickPodehl.
Rundown
The post this week will share some of my experience in success and failures. It will also highlight a cool music channel and video.
The workout will include a fun freestyle FIIT Tabata workout with gloves, a 40X20/10 + 10 freespin bike ride, and it will include two awesome yoga video for helping with a stiff neck.
The lead up to my level up…
2017 and Putting My Life Off Since Then
The year 2017 was filled with many changes for me. I had big plans for 2017. Some things worked out better than I ever could have dreamed! Others went in the totally opposite direction and have had me swinging from my heals since happening.
Continued weight loss, continued developing an active lifestyle, and started really eating healthily. Earned the BAS in August of 2017 and got a “pro” business job in November. Started my “dream project”, this website – GoodAttitudeFood.com in September.
2017 yielded some totally amazing stuff for me that I am incredibly grateful!
Some Bad Stuff Also Happened
My Real Estate Debacle… Debacles, yes plural.
My dream in 2017 was to buy a home. Found a Condo I liked, wrote an offer, won the bid. Packed. Threw away a decade’s worth of stuff, piles of “fat clothes”. Moved out of the house I had rented for 10 years with really good friends. Had the deal fall through at the last minute.
Then went through it again when I found a second place. That deal fell through as well.
Both times it was because of an issue with the multi-tenant building or HOA, something totally outside of my control.
It was crazy-stressful! I focused more on the failure than the lesson.
I did get lucky and had a place to stay right away. A friend has a great home with some extra space, which he offered to rent to me. I moved into an extra room and kind of over-took the basement. It was a blessing during a difficult time! Shot out to my dude! “Stay Gold, Ponyboy, stay gold.” #TheOutsiders
This all happened right before my graduation, during my last quarter of classes. At the time, I was taking three classes, working on many demanding projects at work, and trying to be a first time home buyer all at the same time.
Maybe I was taking on too much… A hard thing for me to even think.
Wait Until After Graduation on the Real Estate Stuff
All the stress of these two failures made me gun-shy in the real estate market. I decided to put off buying until after I graduated.
After I graduated some other things in my life changed and those all made me re-think EVERYTHING I had planned.
Trending
From the buying aspect, real estate prices have been trending up in this area. My plan was to purchase a home (condo or townhouse) in a multi-unit building for “cheap”, live in it for a few years, maybe remodel a bit. Then eventually to own and maintain it as a rental property. I would then buy another property and repeat the process. I wanted to slowly build small a rental property portfolio, to create a few passive income streams. Not a main business, but something that could bring in additional income.
**With the additional cost of HOA fees that come from multi-tenant housing, I may switch my goal to single-family houses instead. From a buying standpoint, I have learned that single-family homes seem to be easier transactions than multi-tenant properties. Fewer parties involved. Fewer Liabilities to consider.
Success or Lessons
In the last (almost) two years of “livin’ in the basement” I have learned lessons. One of those is to believe that there is no such thing as failure. There are only lessons.
It’s a hard thing to learn. But it’s a real and valuable thing to learn to.
Sometimes things just don’t work out!
If I am honest with myself, I probably wasn’t ready for that level at that time! The experiences were what I needed.
Buying is on hold for a year. I plan to pay down my student loans more and then revisit buying possibilities.
Move Out
This week I am MOVING OUT OF THE BASEMENT and into a condo that I found to rent.
This rental comes with a whole new world of stuff to think about as it will be my first place I have rented on my own – I have always had roommates living with me. DEFINITELY, time to “level up” here bro!
“Oh, your life just got harder?
Well, congratulations kid!
You just leveled up!
I think it was on a greeting card I read somewhere…
I’d be lying if “my friend”, The Lizard Brain, hasn’t been chiming in on my self-talk with some A.N.T.s about this new situation.
I just need to shut the lizard brain up and make it happen! It’s time to Level Up!
I think this means I might actually have to try to follow the budget plans I create but always stray from 🙂
On To The Music
I found an awesome Chillstep Mixer this week – Purple Cloud. Purple Cloud’s YouTube channel has hours of great mixes. Please check out the channel and show them some love! Check out the Chillstep #1 mix for this week’s feature. A great mix to find the zone!
The Workout
**Make sure you are healthy enough to exercise before starting any workout. If you are unsure, talk to your doctor first. Interval workouts are intense if you are not used to them.
** Always do a dynamic warm-up before a workout. I do the one from FightTips every day as part of my morning routine. I have probably talked about this video probably a hundred times, but it’s a perfect warm-up for me. Here is the link in case you’ve missed it – just doing this quick video every morning would help anyone!
***We do not condone fighting at GoodAttitudeFood.com. We do the moves for fitness. We do think people should know how to defend themselves if needed. Some of the content on FightTips could help people learn self-defense. Shane and the team do an awesome job! Check them out!
Round 1 – Freestyle FIIT Tabata Burner
Round 1 will be 24 intervals of 20X10, freestyle FIIT work. That is three full Tabata sets.
Tabata = 8 X 20X10
FIIT = Flow Intensity Interval Training
FIIT Tabata Burner = Flow through all intervals with no break.
- 20 seconds work at 85% max perceived effort/intensity, 10 seconds work at 65% max perceived effort/intensity.
Set those interval timers for 24 x 20X10.
*If you are new to Tabata or interval workouts, you might want to start with 8 x 20X10, take a one-minute break between sets, and repeat three times.
With weighted gloves if you got em!
FIIT Principles – work at 85% max during the 20 seconds, while doing fast strike, freestyle boxing type moves. Mix in some kicks, or knees, or whatever else you got those in the bag. It’s freestyle, have fun! Work at 65% during the 10 seconds do fake jump rope or boxer shuffle moves during the 10 seconds.
Round 2 – Spin Bike – 10 x 40X20s and 10 minute free spin
Round 2 of the workout is 10 intervals of 40/20s. 40 seconds on, 20 seconds off, repeat for 10 intervals. Use FIIT Principles. 85% max FTP for 40 seconds, 65% max FTP for 20 seconds.
Then follow that with a minimum of 10 minutes of just a free spin. Do more if you want!
The goal is at least 20 minutes on the bike.
Round 3 – Yoga for a stiff neck
Saturday Morning I awoke with a painful kink in my neck. I could not tilt my head back without real effort followed by sharp pain! I did some stretches that helped.
My neck is still sore on Sunday, but feeling a bit better. I found a few different yoga workouts to help. One of the best yoga instructors around can be found on YouTube at Yoga with Adriene. Adriene has countless hours of free yoga videos. Some are even specifically about helping with neck pain and stiffness. Perfect for what I need!
Adriene is an amazing YouTube Yoga Teacher, life-guru, Zen Master, positivity coach, mentor, or whatever you want to call it. And her channel puts out some of the best content available! Please, stop by the YouTube Channel and check it out!
Two Routines To Help With Stiff Neck
Make It An Awesome Week
There we have it, friends. This has been The WOW – The Workout of the Week, from GoodAttitudeFood.com. A “YUGE” Thank You to all the content providers, and huge thank you to everyone for reading.
Sometimes things in life don’t work out the way we planned.
We need to learn that there are only two outcomes: success and lessons. We can view setbacks or alternate plans as failing, or we can look at those same events as lessons and use them to gain more knowledge. If we gain enough knowledge, we can Level Up!
Maybe it’s time to allocate some of those skill points you’ve built up and use them to “level up” something in your life. I know it is for me! Until next week, be happy and healthy my friends. When the time comes, choose to “level up”, like the hero in the story would do! Be the hero in the story and go on to the next level!