Chris: So...

Try counting while you do it. And see how long you can do it.

John: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

John: All the way up. All the way up. Knees. Knees. There you go! 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Awesome!

John: [...]

John: Now you're just -- Now you're just bragging

Day 24 was a self directed exercise day for us. Chris was still recovering from illness. I ran 5.2 miles and my diet was pretty good, all things considered. I did have some movie popcorn in the evening, but I kind of made room for that movie popcorn in my nutrition for the day. So it wasn't that big of a deal. 

By day 25, Chris was feeling better and we even bothered him enough that he's getting better at taking pictures of his food. Our dietitian, Kim, will be so proud.

I started off the day with some delicious toast, jam, and cantaloupe. And then we met up with Laura. 

We started with another metric test. I did 10 pull-ups this time and Chris did 6. Although my bands are stronger. But back on day 4, we both had only done 5. So that's some improvement for both of us. 

Laura: Get it, get it, get it get it. 

John: *grunting*

Laura: Thats awesome!  John: That's it, that's it.   Laura: Good job!

Laura: Doubled it!

John: That felt a lot easier. 

Then we did standing jumps. I got up to 13 risers this time. And Chris did 15, which was better than last time when I did 11 and Chris did 14. And Chris continues to be astonishingly good at wall sits. He literally did this for three and a half minutes. It was super boring. 

Chris: I'm an extraordinary athlete. 

I on the other hand had a respectable time of one minute twelve seconds. This means that I've improved by almost 30 seconds since day 4 and Chris by a minute and a half! 

John: Okay! *deep breath* Man thank god for chairs. What a great invention. 

We also tested our heart rates after a minute on the rowing machine. Mine got up to 146 and Chris to 145. Here's where Chris's microphone almost fell on the floor and I heroically dove for it and held it while he finished rowing. TEAM WORK!

Speaking of teamwork, we started with some partner bands. 

[music plays over workout montage]

(2:01) John: JESUS!

[music continues to play over montage]

Then we did some medicine ball work. It was already remarkably clear to me more easy and fun this was than day 22 when I had to work out by myself. Even though Laura was definitely laughing at us for doing these ridiculous partner workouts. 

*grunting and laughing*

John: Oh god! Its hard 'cause its funny, not 'cause its hard.

Chris: This is gonna be (?~2:32) favorite video 

*laughing* 

[music plays over buddy montage]

(2:38) If you have a friend and you're not easily embarrassed, I would recommend giving some of these moves a try. Its way more fun to have someone encouraging you while you exercise. 

John: Gotta get some Purell. 

Chris: *laughs at John*

So this Thursday workout with Laura was awesome. Chris was back. I'd eaten really well the day before and that morning. And I just felt like I had tons of energy. I felt like I could attack the day.

Laura: You guys feel closer after this workout? 

John: Yeah I've definitely never touched Chris in any of these places.

Chris: I know a lot of fans of John Green are watching, but the opportunity to do squats with my hands on your -- on your knees was, I mean, I literally haven't washed my hands since.  John: *laughs*   Chris: Here. 

John: No! Please don't!

I even managed some pretty good eating for the rest of the day. Although I did go to another movie and had some popcorn. But then I had some reservations about the day 26 workout, Aerial Fitness at Cirque Indy with Mary. Mostly I was afraid of falling and dying. Really I've just got three goals for 100 Days: improve my physical health, improve my mental health, and don't die. 

John: We'll do what ever you tell us to do. 

Mary: Okay.

John: Except when we can't.

But just like Christina, our rock climbing instructor, Mary was really good at letting us ease into the activity. We did a really long warm up with stretches, and arm circles, and lunges, and plies. That's the first plies of my career by the way and I just want to note that it looks awesome.

Then she had us do some pretty difficult core workout, but explained why it was so important. 

Mary: Most people think that aerial is all about your upper body strength, but a lot of it is core because a lot of times we are lifting our legs, so we're lifting our hips up over our heads. Be very strong here. 

John: Phew! 

Chris: Oh, that was great!

John: Good workout everybody!

Chris: I'll buy beers. How many beers? Where are we going? 

Okay whether I liked it or not, it was now time to start. Mary explained that this is known as "double ribbon fabric", individually they're ribbons. Terminology aside, this stuff is really hard!

Mary: see if you can lift just one leg up. Or both. 

John: Boy that's tough!  How can you just keep doing that?

Mary: If you want an additional challenge here, you can try to tuck your feet up.

*laughter*

John: Nope

Mary: That's okay. Thats okay.

Just the act of trying to hold myself off the ground really took me to the limits of my physical capability.

Mary: I like to do this from the ball first and push the heels out because its easier than motoring up here. Okay? So you can hold here.  *laughter*  And drive the bus is squeezing the obliques, so one leg lifts and then the other one lifts.  And if that's too hard come into this

John: Holy S  How are you doing this while talking?!

Chris: Just drive the bus, John.

John: Just drive the bus

Mary: Its like this, right

John: 3, 2, 1

Mary: Yeah!

John: There's no bus driving. I apologize.  

Mary: Its okay you can try it with the bent legs. It'll be a little easier. 

John: Drive the bus. Oh you're driving the bus!   Mary: Yes!

John: Alright if Chris can drive the bus, I'm gonna try to drive the bus. So you just gotta ...

Chris: Get the kids home for supper John.

John: *Grunts* Oh god! Its excrutiating! 

but then we loved the aerial hoop. Although I do realize that everything looks slightly more graceful when Mary was doing it. 

John: Do I look like an angel? 

John: Or do I look like an angel?

Then we got to try orbital movement.

Mary: And then I'm gonna give it a little bit of mustard. And I'm gonna run and my momentum is just gonna pick me up off the ground.

John: Give it some mustard.  And up you go. You're flying! Oh you're an angel! You're a dove in the sky!

John: You actually look really good. 

John: Okay

Chris: There you go

John: Oh yeah. That's the stuff. 

*Laughter*

John: Oh god! Oohhhhh!

And we did what's known as an inversion. This was the Frog Pose and it freaked me out a little, but Chris really loved it because it was a great stretch for his back. 

Chris: There's been very few, like, times in my life where -- I have lower back pain -- that I've felt that kind of relief. That it was almost like a euphoric feeling.

And then we finished up with some sweet moves on the trapeze. All in all I enjoyed Aerial Fitness. As I've often wished during the 100 days I wish I were stronger. Like I think if I were stronger, a lot of that would have been easier. That said I do look wonderful in the air with the ribbons, so I've got that going for me.

So week 4 is over and honestly this was the worst diet week I've had so far. Two days this week I basically just ate and ate and ate. Things like granola bars and cookies. And once I start eating like that its really difficult to stop. However, the other five days of the week I did pretty well. 

And I also want to be a little bit nice to myself in all of this and acknowledge that I have made big real progress already. Things are going much better now than they were before we started 100 Days. I feel more in control of my eating. I'm being much more conscientious and thoughtful about it and I feel much better physically. But it wasn't a perfect eating week.

On the other hand, I had another good mental health week. I felt like I dealt with stress fairly well. One thing I've noticed is that when I'm feeling a really heightened level of anxiety or even when I'm approaching a place of panic, if I can work out I will feel much better on the other side of it. 

All in all, I've got some work to do on diet and meditation. But overall, I'm feeling surprisingly good. Thank you for watching. I'll see you on day 27.

[End credit music] 

John: 3, 2, 1

Chris: Crooked

John: *Groans* 

Chris: The Russian judge marked me down on that one 

John: Yeah I was gonna say