"Fitness Club" Thread

GWC Community GWC Fitness Club
#481

This week’s weigh in has me the following 218lbs

Therefore, since last week, I’ve had a 2lb loss and in total (from 280lbs), I’ve lost 62lbs which does seem very weird when you think about it. I never thought I’ll be here.

In terms of changing taste buds I’ve also noticed that I don’t crave the chocolate anymore (says he as his team leader unloads the birthday cakes), I much prefer a good plate of crackers, cheese and chutney, peanut butter and meats (salami, ham,etc) homer drool

I’ll rather have a homemade burger with crips salad,etc than a McD’s and so on and so forth.

In kilograms, I’m no longer over 100kg, which means that technically I can deadlift myself now. Not quite up there with bench pressing. I did go to IKEA and lifted up a heavy wardrobe and it was generally alot easier.

Yesterday I did have a thought of ‘Am I losing strength?’ but I don’t think I am, my routines are still going well in the gym and I’m getting through them quicker and with more weight overall. My food intake has been 8/10 and I’ve been aware of what I’ve been eating esp during the week. At the weekends, I do tend to eat the more carb loaded and semi processed food but the defecit is still there and it’s working out nicely.

In terms of looks, I’m getting the dimples on the side of my hips (V-taper ab plate - here we come), my back feels taut, you can see the difference between my tricep and biceps and I’ve got nooks and crannys when it comes to leg/thigh definition. I’m still fat (aka the spare back tyre) but it’s alot better.

My 38 inch pants are comfortable to the point where I can pull it out a tad and it not feel tight. It feels good to be at this low level which I’ve never reached before.

Gym wise is good, I’m enjoying it now (once I actually get there) and people esp the gym instructor thinks that I’m one of the hardest workers in there and he’s generally cool and takes the time to discuss my plans and he’s always impressed with the general movements I’m doing.

It should be noted that I think I impressed some woman in there as I was working on my handstand negatives, next thing I know, they were trying it and when they were talking with the instructor, they said how cool it looked and asked me to show them how to do it (yes I am a validation whore, I like the praise).

Clothes fit on me nicely and it’s one less headache to worry about when I go into the shops.

Diet wise is good and unlike the last time, I don’t feel that I’m restricting myself to badly and only have eggs, tuna, protein powder ed nauseum. I’m not doing the 6C program to the letter but I am doing a cyclic program (mainly because trying to stick to a rigid number isn’t in my nature).

People are noticing the loss as I was in the fast food takeaway place that I go to and he commented that I had lost a lot of weight. I was almost tempted to say "That’s because I don’t come here as often’. I didn’t, I said thanks and said it was mainly due to chasing my son around.

So even if I say it every week, it’s good to read people’s progress and I’m glad that I came onto this site as the information is presented in an easy to understand manner that just clicked. Sometimes when listening to other fitness podcasts, it can get a bit too technical (in relation to putting it into practise).

Any down sides, nothing that’s too obvious is occuring at the moment, - Ah, actually I would say that the only thing that I notice at the gym is that when I do side lunges or even lunges in general, it doesn’t feel quite right, esp when I side lunge to the left, it feels restricted. I think I need to work on more mobility of the hips. It’s wierd as I used to be able to do negativas to the side without too much trouble however trying to do a roundhouse with my left leg always resulted in a kick that wasn’t as high or complete when compared to my right leg.

My Routine is generally

Monday: Heavy Circuit Day
Tuesday: Heavy Upper Day
Wednesday: Day Off
Thursday: Heavy Circuit Day
Friday: Heavy Lower Day
Weekends: Active Rest (I have a 20 month old son - there is no such thing as complete rest - R U Crazy!!)

Baconface: That’s awesome, feels good when you see the scale move. About the food in front of you, just think of the day when you can rock up into work and point with your guns and say GruntThose doughnuts over there?* Or you show your abs off and say, “Sorry, got to watch my weight” just as an excuse to show off your wash board abs

I must not eat Peanut Butter Cups.

Peanut Butter Cups is the waist-killer.
Peanut Butter Cupsis the little death that brings total obliteration.
I will face the Peanut Butter Cups.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
When the Peanut Butter Cups has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.

Uubergeek - Congrats on the loss - I found that the trousers way of measuring is a great way. Just remember to have a spare belt at work :slight_smile:

The weekend just gone was manic - I ended up going shopping and walking around for about 2-3 hours. It was a case of going to IKEA as we’re going to inherit a kitchen so we need to stock it out with goodies and other fun toys. After that, we went to a HUGE sporting goods store and had a look at all the weight lifting equipment which was tempting to buy but weights are generally expensive for what they are. The annoying thing is that I brought a set off a friend for about 10 pounds (15 dollars) that were cast iron with bench and went up to at least 100kg. Ended up throwing them away because they were kept outside and it was during a period of

  1. No space to put them in and
  2. Wasn’t in the right headspace for working out on a constant basis.

Now that I have the time and in the right headspace, I don’t have it cries. Oh well, what are you supposed to do. Just have to check the free papers and see if I can get lucky again.

On the sunday, my nephews were around, so in the house were 7,5 and 20 month old so that was interesting. We ended up going to a children’s play centre. My NEAT must have been through the roof as for a solid two hours I was running around, climbing through rope hoops, walking across rope bridges, climbing over mat bumps, sliding down slides, picking up son to do all over again (must
have done it at least 5-6 times). I was knackered by the end.

In terms of handstand pushups, I can do about 7 reps (negative) and about 1/2 partial reps. Going to work on pistol squats next.

These are my goals for the next couple of months/year

  1. Get down to at least 14 stone by 5th July 2011. That is twenty two more pounds to lose. This will have me at a BMI of approx 27.

  2. By Halloween, get down to a decent bodyfat/muscle ratio as I plan to dress up as Riddick (Pitch Black) - Silly goal but hey, I think it’ll be fun.

  3. Get to about 15-18% Bodyfat, I’m not to sure what I am now so I have to find that out first to see how far/close I am to achieving this. Ultimate bf target would be about 10% but I have to balance work and family life.4) Have a decent body so that I can go to a photography studio and have some cool pictures done. Also take son as I think it’ll make a good present for the wife.

  4. Have the surgery to fix the loose skin and then focus on achieving goal 4. I realise that it will take some time so I will have to research on how to recover without getting to relaxed in the maintenance phase.

#482

Bishop, Great to hear all your progress, and congrats on becoming a bit of a role model at the gym. :slight_smile:

Aimee, when you tell the story of coworkers pushing candy on you, I almost feel my blood pressure rising on your behalf! Just remember, we all have choices. As an adult, you can technically eat 600 peanut butter cups a day if you wanted. Or you could eat none, and focus on what will make you healthier, happier, more energetic, and proud of yourself and your new confidence. Nobody eats junk food without consequences. You just need to remind yourself that you care about those consequences enough to overcome those temptations. And if other people choose to succumb, it doesn’t mean you have to. Keep up the AWESOME work. You can do it!!

My current workout schedule is 5 days/week, like this:

Monday: Weight training (full body)
Tuesday: Off
Wednesday: Cardio and Abs
Thursday: Bosu (half-ball) strength and balance exercises
Friday: Off
Saturday: Circuit training (full body)
Sunday: Cardio and Abs

I also try to stay active by walking or riding my bike; just 20 minutes here and there really adds up. I use the BodyBugg to track my calories and examine my patterns of calorie burn online. It helps a lot as I can keep running a slight calorie deficit (200-300 calorie deficit/day) and over time slowly take off fat while maintaining lean muscle.

Right now my body fat is about 25.5%, and my goal is to get it down around 20%. I’m not sure how long that will take! But I think within this year, 2011, is reasonable if I keep my routine rolling as it is.

From where I started, I’ve lost about 75 lbs. and about 13% body fat. One cool thing I’ve discovered is that, especially if you’re female, you can get stronger, smaller, and denser all at the same time. My arms are about half as big around as they used to be and they look way buffer (if I do say so myself) :wink: And while my muscles take up less volume (bulk or size), they contain more dense muscle tissue, which I learned is the definition of “toned.” Two people can be equally strong even if one person has muscles considerably larger or smaller than the other. Strength and volume are not a 1:1 ratio.

Guys tend to be able to (and want to) build muscle volume and size along with strength, and testosterone and other hormones that are more abundant in men help with this. The good news for women is, you can lift heavy and lift often, and you’ll just get stronger and smaller, curvier and fitter, all at the same time. Booyah! (The only thing that will make you get “masculine” muscles is if you take steroids or other hormones that change the default female system. So lift HEAVY!) :slight_smile:

That’s all for now! Looking forward to hearing from you all soon – and seeing some of you in person.

BTW Nike, Chuck and I are going to continue our workouts during the meetup, and a number of people coming down also plan to go for runs or other things. If you want to plan to do something for exercise while you’re here, we can!

#483

BM: First, thanks for all the effort you’re putting in here in the thread. This thread is awesome because of what everyone brings, and you set a killer example. I know it means a lot to everyone.

FWIW, I’ve had trouble getting my body fat down to where I want it. I still have a bit of a belly even after all the work I’ve done, and during the muscle-adding process of the last six months I’ve climbed from 17% to around 21% fat. That’s why I added all the extra cardio starting last week. I really want to kill that number and get it back down to where it was, and eventually lower. In the meantime I’ll have to console myself with the fact that I have added a good bit of muscle, and I’m definitely a lot stronger than I was six months ago.

My current workout schedule is:

Monday: Back
Tuesday: Off
Wednesday: Chest
Thursday: Legs
Friday: Off
Saturday: Shoulders/Bis/Tris
Sunday: Cardio

Each of the workouts is normally an hour to 1:30 long. And starting last week, I’ve pushed the workouts back to the morning, adding an additional one hour of medium-pace elliptical (usually around 5 miles) in the late afternoon/early evening.

Diet-wise, I’m doing the same thing I always have, averaging 10/60/30 (F/C/P) and eating about 250 cal more per day than I burn. A few weeks ago the trainer shifted my off days from T/W to T/F as they are now, and he’s got me pushing my food back earlier in the day. I’ve been trying to get all my food in before 8:00 p.m. and to stay at least 200 calories up throughout the day.

It’s been tough the last week or so, but I swear I can feel my body changing in the way I want it to. Hopefully it is, though I won’t know until my next weigh/measure.

#484

So in honor of Pi day yesterday i tried to go running 3.14 miles. I ended up running a bit more than that. My time was slower than my last 5k run but i also have not been running in almost 2 weeks due to the first week after my 5k i was breaking in my new shoes by only running a mile at a time and then last week i was on a ski trip (so i still got a wicked leg work out and pretty decent cardio).

But i seem to have hit a wall that i wont get over until i start loosing a little more weight. Also i need to strengthen my lower back a bit. That’s really the only part that hurts when i run. My legs are normally ok and I can usually keep my breath under control. but my lower back tends to hurt something fierce. It is less so when i remember to stretch it out a lot but most of the times I forget to really stretch my back until i am well into my run. I have to constantly stop and give it a quick mini-stretch.

But i have another 5k to run in 11 days. I hope to maybe trim a minute or so off my last 5k run. But as long as I finish i will still be proud.

#485

It’s cool that people can run…I get to a certain point and I get meh…so I’m always envious of people that can do a 5k or even do mini marathons esp 2 in a week. makes me sweat

Chuck - I hold you as inspiration for us all as you are proof that you can go down in weight and then start to buff up. What do you use to measure your bf?

#486

I really recommend the website 101cookbooks.com. It’s all vegetarian recipes, so not good for every meal for the meat eaters, but they are very tasty. Some are high fat, too–not all diet food. In fact, I often ask the fiancee if we can modify the recipes to make them friendlier to me. But since you’re looking for heart-healthy eating I think you may like some of the ideas you find there.

Also, turkey is a wonderful meat. I do not consider having a turkey burger instead of a beef burger to be substituting because it is effing delicious. Also, ground turkey in pasta sauce with whole wheat spaghetti is a nice balanced meal.

I am actually in awe of this. I guess it helps that you and Chuck work out together–so it is part of family time. But I work an average 9.25 hours per day, 5 days a week, plus 3 hours average on the weekends. My commute adds up to about 6.5 hours per week commuting. I usually do something social once to twice a week. We also spend a lot of time cooking in order to eat healthfully.

So I have really had to work hard to make time for 4 workouts per week. Once I get back into the gym routine (seeing the trainer tomorrow) I expect that I will be able to fit in 2 gym visits per week (weights and cardio during both) plus 2 yoga sessions.

Seriously, how do you make it to the gym 5 days per week?? I know that dedication is part of the answer, and being willing to sacrifice some things like TV time. But I constantly find myself struggling with carving out time for the gym.

I am planning to start running for the first time since high school. I am intimidated. When I was 15 I discovered that I loved running. I started running in the evenings and quickly worked up to 3 miles a night. A friend of mine on the cross country team convinced me to join, even though with D-cups I did not have a runners body. It was FUN!

At 16 I had my first experience with depression that has been a problem for me ever since. At the time I was completely knocked on my ass–I did not know what to do about it at all. So I pushed myself harder and harder on the CC team, running on all my off days. I retreated into my schoolwork. A side-effect of the depression was that I never felt hungry. I would eat a yogurt cup for lunch and a granola bar before practice and run 4 miles and get home and have a cup of baby carrots and do homework until 11 p.m. I got down to a really unhealthy weight and was all muscle and boobs and dark circles under my eyes.

The worst part is that as I got healthy again, mentally and physically, my CC coach gave me a really hard time about putting on some weight. Looking back at pictures from that time, this is ridiculous. I needed to add 15 pounds! He stopped scheduling me for some races, even. I got really discouraged and ended up quitting the team. That was the last time I ran for fun–10 years ago.

Of course, in the mean time I have played football and rugby and kickball so I have done short runs for warm ups and extended runs during games, but no distance running. It reminds me of the dark times.

But I have become convinced lately that my body wants to run. Slowly, non aerodynamically, sure. But it will be good for me. So that is one of the goals that I have for working with a trainer for the next couple of months. But I am scared of the emotional component. Meh. Baggage is stupid.

#487

The measurements I posted are taken by the trainer using the skinfold caliper method. I treat those as the “real” numbers. I also have an electronic unit that I use to take daily measurements at home. I don’t trust the readings individually – it shows around 10% for example – but it is useful for comparing results day to day. The trends seem to show some meaning.

SB: As for getting to the gym, it is tough. But the more I do it the easier it seems to get. Adding the second trip has really been kicking my ass this week, but I know I need the extra cardio. :frowning:

I think planning makes it a little easier. When it’s more like eating and sleeping (things you make time for most of the time) it’s more likely to happen. And stability seems to help, too. Like don’t overplan. :confused:

Edit: The more I think about it the harder I realize it is staying healthy. I always seem to end up shorting something. Recently it’s been sleep. That might account for some of my difficulty as well. I keep trying to push myself to get everything relatively close because I want results, but it’s very much like herding cats; something always seems to slip. FWIW, I try really hard to accept that it’s a journey. I don’t beat myself up when I fall short, but I don’t treat it like it’s unimportant either. I think the most important element – for me at least – is to retain the focus on seeking a better lifestyle. This can’t just be a “diet” or a “push” which’ll just go away when I stop. I’m figuring out how to live the rest of my life. Know what I mean?

#488

I keep a log so these are my thoughts for the day.

Hmmm, I tried a concept called Intermittent Fasting and no doubt I’ve got it wrong but it was a case of not eating at 8pm on Monday night and then not eating till 11am on the Tuesday morning where I had my ‘breakfast’ which was fruity porridge and scrambled eggs and ham. It was a weird feeling having it then but it was ok. I udnerstand the concept of meal timings and I’m going to try and have the majority of the carbs around the workout time.

I then had my 'lunch (Egg, ham and chicken salad) about 3 hours later and I was ok, I didn’t need the yoghurt that I would normally have on a normal day.

By the time I got home, I wasn’t that hungry but considering that I only had approx 700 calories so far, I felt that I needed to eat something as I didn’t want to be THAT low down in calories considering how big I am (MY BMR is roughly around the 2700 – so I’m doing a really heavy deficit (just means my diet break needs to be longer).

I mean I didn’t go gym so it wasn’t that bad as I could consider it as my low day. In the end, I had a ham and cheese toastie and a cup of instant Cappuccino (85 cals). So I ended up around the 1.2k calories mark.

Tried it today (Wednesday) and I didn’t really notice until 11:30 that I had not eaten, so I guess I could get used to it, I think I’ll try it a couple more days and see what happens.

I tend to fluctuate around the 1200 - 1600 mark and when I do hit the 1600 mark, it’s not that I have alot more, it might just be an extra meal. I know the stomach adapts but I need to make sure that I’m not under eating too much which is why I tend to do the maintenance type feeding on the weekend, just to make sure that my body knows that it’s got good food coming.

I’ll also take a diet break after this challenge for about 1/2 weeks and just eat normally, although it’s going to be hard a little. I just have to make sure that I have a hearty breakfast and a good meal.

I’ve calculated that my essential calories are 1200 on the low end and 1700 essential calories on the high end. Lower end - I need about 130g of protein, 43g of carbs
and 54g of fat. This is what I tend to do, although I’ve still got to get the ratio of carbs to protein right, I tend to have them at a 1:1 level, as if I have say 100 protein, then the carbs tend to around the same level.

While I do like my carbs and I do not demonise them, I do tend to do well when it is around the 100g mark. Any more and my body doesn’t respond well when I don’t have
any for a while. I just need to up my protein a bit more therefore maybe extra tin of sardines or tuna or even a protein shake or two.

The thing I have noticed is that my work day is 7.5 hr, so the thoughts of food do enter my head quite a few times. I’m busy at work so that’s also a good thing and I listening to podcasts to aid me when I work. What I have noticed is that I do drink alot of fruit teas, hot water and tea. This helps me not feel hungry so much and I think has been a key factor in helping me keep the weight off and not snacking on the biscuits and cakes.

On the weekends, my water intake goes sharply down and that’s because I don’t have ready access to it at work and my mind is on other things. I do need to fix this.

Star - In terms of going 4/5 times a week, for me, it still is a battle to try and go that often and I mainly get that feeling when I’m getting ready to go to the gym, I’ve just had dinner, I’ve just put the boy to bed and it’s the choice of playing Fable III, Dragon Age or Red Dead. What I tend to think of is that the gym session is only going to be 45 minutes to an hour long and that the benefits are going to outweigh me sitting on the couch playing games. My thinking is that I’m not going to get fit doing that and I can always play them when I get back. Once I’m actually in the gym it’s not too bad. I think its more apprehension then anything else.

I also agree with you, Turkey is awesome although the wife and I did go through a phase of turkey everything so now we’re on the chicken phase.

Just know that you can do awesome things on 2 times a week, mainly you’ll be considering full body routines but that’s awesome too. You can get some real bang for
your buck moves as you’ll be concentrating on compound movements to activate the most muscles. So you’ll probably end up doing alot of:

Push Presses
Squat Variations (Front Squat and Goblet Squats are ace)
Dead lifts
Push Up Variations
and so on…

And if it is two days a week, the split would be upper and lower. Go heavy and you’ll need the rest of the days to recover (which I think is the most important
part of training). It will be awesome :slight_smile:

The yoga sounds like a great idea as mobility is very important as it’s no good to be really strong and fit if you can’t stand up from the couch :slight_smile:

As for the running, the coach needs to have a swift kick up the arse, but as long as you get back into the groove and find it fun again, then that’s all that really matters. Recognising the emotional part is part of getting healthy, it’s both the mind and body, both spiritual and physical. It’s no good to have one without the other. Plus I’m sure the GWC community are here to talk if you ever need to vent (I do charge £50 per hour though) smile

Chuck - Maybe you just need some time off training, it’ll do the body good and give it a chance to regain its levels again plus you can get your sleep and then you can attack it again with a refreshed mind. Although if it was me, I would concentrate on the sleep part and let one of the other things drop

Sleep
Diet
Training <---- if needed - drop the extra training day

Obviously this is a very simple look at things as you are probably busy with the 'cast, the meet up, spending time with Audra, work and so on. However, I do agree
with you that it is hard to stay healthy and I do find that it is on my mind most of the day. I’m hoping that it’ll just be in the background as something I do (like sleeping or brushing teeth).

Audra - That is cool about losing 75lbs and I agree that you’ve found out about being smaller and more compact and strong as you’ve lost weight. I think that’s one of my ‘fears’. I’ve been big (more in stature than weight) for 90% of my adult life, so the thought of being around 180lbs is a bit of a weird thought/concept.

#489

From a site I’m on…has good food receipes sometimes.

  1. You can use extra peanut butter if you don’t have PB2. Adjust the calories.
  2. You can use regular, skim, or soy milk. Again, adjust the calories.

Ingredients: (Use one set of measurements)

Grams/Ounces

30 g chocolate protein powder (30 g or 1 scoop is 110-130 calories)
20 g PB2
10 g cocoa powder
1 packet of Stevia (or any sweetener of your choice, make sure to adjust calories)
10 g peanut butter
3 fl oz original almond milk, unsweetened
Ingredients:

Cups/Spoons

1 scoop chocolate protein powder (30 g or 1 scoop is 110-130 calories)
1-3/4 tbsp PB2
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 packet of Stevia (or any sweetener of your choice, make sure to adjust calories)
2/3 tbsp peanut butter
6 tbsp original almond milk, unsweetened

Directions:

  1. Put all dry items in mixing bowl and mix together.

  2. Add the peanut butter and milk.

  3. Whisk together all items until completely mixed. There should be no lumps of powder or peanut butter. If need you can add small drops of extra milk for thicker peanut butters.

  4. Pour mixture in soufflé dish.

  5. Place dish in microwave and heat for 30 seconds. Take out the dish and move (small amount) of cooked outside towards the middle allowing the mass of liquid to hit the outside again.

  6. Heat for 15-20 seconds more, repeat same step of moving outer cooked layer inside. If it was really liquidy the first time still then do 20 seconds. If it had some firm spots stick to 15.

  7. Allow it to sit for 1 minute. Then take a butter knife and run around the edges of the dish, turn the dish over onto a plate and like that, you have a beautiful, soft, melting in mouth, protein soufflé.

Yields 1 serving

Calories- 348.94, Protein- 36.58 g, Fat- 13.38 g, Carbs- 20.55 g, Fiber- 4.13 g, Sodium- 301.66 mg

I have a couple of books/pdf so if you want me to have a quick look like me know what type of foods you think you would want and I’ll see if they have it…I am here to help :slight_smile:

#490

On this note, today someone put a huge bag of Quality Street toffees in our lunch room. so far, so good and I’ve resisted temptation.

On the whole lunch room front, here’s a couple of suggestions too:

  1. The Monday Tupperware of Celery & Carrots™ - I’ve started bringing a big tupperware of celery and carrots into the office. When I need a snack - bam! I’ve actually used it to taunt the junk food eaters. Think of the perverse pleasure of turning the tables on them and making them feel guilty about eating that chocolate bar, not that I would do that of course :slight_smile:

  2. Push your place of employment to offer fruit in addition to junk food - We bring in bannanas, apples, pears, etc in addition to bars and soda and charge a bit less than what the junk food goes for. I can grab an apple when people head to the lunch room and not feel left out. Not surprisingly, as a team we now go through way more fruit than junk food :slight_smile:

Good luck with your fitness goals everybody, and hang in there!!!

…and have a blast at the meetup.

#491

Heya gang,

Had a great leg day today, so I thought I would post the routine. This was the second time I’ve done it, and I think I’m still fine tuning it. Part 1 requires a cardio machine, and part 2 requires some gym equipment, but the rest can be done with just dumbbells.

Keep your HR up, and try for only 40 second breaks between parts 3 - 5. Oh, and make sure you have a towel and some water :slight_smile: Enjoy!

Part 1 - High Intensity Interval Cardio (elliptical or treadmill, but you can substitute in bike to hit the glutes a bit more)
10 minute warm up
15 minutes of 60 second high intensity sprint intervals
5 minute moderate-intensity cool down

Part 2 - Go heavy & keep the HR up! Do four circuits
60 seconds jump rope
1 set (6-8) incline leg press
1 set (12-15) calf extensions
1 set (8-10) smith machine squats
30 second rest

Part 3 - Explosive Power Do four circuits
40 sec box jumps
40 sec dumbbell bulgarian split squats - Lt Leg
40 sec dumbbell bulgarian split squats - Rt Leg
40 sec explosive lunges (no weight, keep your core solid, torso upright, and focus on exploding up and into the next lunge)
40 second rest

Part 4 - core vs. squat Do four circuits
40 sec jack-knife crunches
40 sec dumbbell goblet squats
40 sec “boxer twists” (Stand in a classic boxers’ pose with one leg slightly forward, then using your core, bounce/twist so your other leg is forward. Concentrate on activating your core to move your torso while quickly changing your leading leg)
40 sec kettle-bell squats - Rt hand (I use a dumbbell. Squat so the dumbbell is on the ground, as you stand, bring the dumbbell straight out in front of you and end with your arm straight up over your head. Keep the arm with no weight behind your back. Be careful not to bend your back on the way back down as you return the weight to the ground)
40 sec kettle-bell squats - Lt hand
40 second rest

Part 5 - Hamstrings Do four circuits
40 sec one-leg dumbbell dead-lifts - Lt Leg
40 sec one-leg dumbbell dead-lifts - Rt Leg
40 sec ‘MMA’ knee strikes - Lt Leg
40 sec ‘MMA’ knee strikes - Rt Leg
40 sec goblet dumbbell side lunges (side to side)
40 sec leg raises (for an added challenge, you can do them on an incline bench and/or support a light dumbbell between your feet)
40 second rest

I did the entire workout with 2-lb ankle weights per leg, and with my usual weighted gloves and wrist weights. Full disclosure - I stumbled over the bench on my last set of box jumps, but picked myself up and kept going. Kinda felt silly, but oh well. :stuck_out_tongue:

#492

Wow, I haven’t checked in here in a week or so and I find some awesome progress and advice! This thread (and you all) have become pretty gorram inspiring. I started awhile ago to simply lose the 15 lbs or so that I’d packed on while I was looking for a job last year, and I’m within 1 lb of that as of today, but now I’m rethinking and may start an actual workout schedule, get into some serious shape. Thanks Wolverines. :slight_smile:

#493

howdy everyone!

did NOT have a good weekend in terms of eating nor did I exercise :frowning:

was my dad’s birthday so naturally when I took him out to eat I had a bunch of food I shouldn’t have

today went and got some heavier weights for certain lifts I do, so I’m excited to get to using those this week!

#494

for EVERYONE at the meetup, trust me we understand. I ate what had to be 4000 calories a day, at only 1-2 meals. drank beer and liquor like a sailor, and exercised zero.

It was an awesome time, but ya know what? I’m showing up to my spinning class later, and gonna knock it out. Such things would not happen without this thread. You all rock!

#495

Way to go Xer! I decided to hit the gym on Saturday, and managed to get a body composition done. I was hoping to break back into the 7’s, but was at 8.2%. I used some of that frustration to have a wickedly intense workout that left me frakin’ drained the rest of the day:
Cardio 1
45 minutes of elliptical with 20 min of HIIT/Kenpo-X

Cardio 2 “aka the frustration set”
skipping x 1 min
knee strikes - Lt x20
knee strikes - Rt x20
Low kicks - Rt x20
Low kicks - Lt x20
Burpees x30

Core routine 3 circuits, 40 seconds per excercise
Back extensions
Side crunches - Lt
Side Crunches - Rt
Plank
Side plank - Lt
Side plank - Rt
Bicycle kick crunches
Mason Twists
Leg lifts

functional squats 3 circuits
1H Dumbbell clean-squat to full extension - Lt x10
1H Dumbbell clean-squat to full extension - Rt x10
2H Dumbbell diagonal golf squat to pivot full extension - Lt x10
2H Dumbbell diagonal golf squat to pivot full extension - Rt x10
Prisoner squats (high speed, no weight) x50
Dumbbell goblet squats x10

I was also able to channel some frustration from missing the meetup into that workout too! However, Saturday made it officially 7 days without a rest day, so Sunday and today are recovery days. I probably over indulged on my first real cheat day in a while on Sunday too, and my gut isn’t very happy today.

Here’s hoping everyone had a safe trip home from the meetup, and has a great week back on the fitness train!

#496

Go Darth!!! “You lift things up and put them daown!”

#497

Hello everyone! I hope those that went to the meetup had a great time. I endulged a little this week too. I ate some pizza Thursday night, then I went out with DawnAZ to lunch on Saturday and had a few mixed drinks (lots of sugar) and then I had a taco bell moment earlier in the week. I managed to stay away from the peanut butter cups and chocolate mints that my coworkers were pushing last week and I feel proud of myself. Also, all the support here makes a huge difference to me and I thank you all, and I appreciate it so much :slight_smile:

Something I have been finding difficult is sticking to a schedule for my eating. My job has me working til 10pm Monday - Thursday, then working a regular 9-5 shift Friday. Some weeks it switches and I work three evenings and then the weekends. It’s very hard to get my body into a rhythm where I can be hungry at the same times everyday. I’m looking for ideas on how to cope with that.

I weighed myself today and I’ve lost 2lbs this last week, for a total of 21lbs so far. I’m still in a little shock that I lost weight this week, since I feel like I ate terribly.

#498

way to kick some bootay Baconface! going off the wagon AND losing weight is nuts! :eek:

I rocked the P90X chest, shoulders, and triceps workout today RAWR! its mostly pushups and lower weights for the triceps so I didn’t get a chance to use my heavier weights yet, but that comes Wednesday on Back & Bicep day

am NOT going to get up early tomorrow for the plyometrics, don’t want to feel sick again, so instead I’m going to just do it after work and push through on tired legs, it should be easier to push through that than try to do it while feeling sick because of having too much water in my stomach! (plus now I’m going to sleep in about an hour and 15 minutes longer tomorrow morning than I usually would :smiley: )

this is my last week of phase 2 before going into the transition week before phase 3 and I want to finish it strong!

#499

Well, I actually managed to avoid finding an excuse not to go to the gym today. Only did about 20 minutes on the eliptical, but need to start somewhere, right?

Won’t be able to exercise tomorrow because Tuesday’s a really frakking long day for me, but hopefully Wednesday I’ll get back there.

#500

I think with shift work, you center everything around the sleeping rather than the actual time. There’s an article about it somewhere, I’ll dig it out.

Even though you ate “not so good”, you were probably doing a lot of NEAT (Non exercise activity time) at the meetup so you were probably walking around and moving alot more than you nornally would or it could be that even with the extra food, you had enough for your bodies needs :slight_smile: