Fitocracy Catch-All

Yeah, it's a 3-axis accelerometer.

My trainer kept trying to push a Bodybugg on me, until I finally got irritated enough to tell him in no uncertain terms that I didn't want one. Any device that requires a subscription to be used properly is just nuts. Advanced stuff? Sure, but logging should be done locally on a provided program (or hell, just into Excel). I'm not convinced of the accuracy of the Bodybugg anyway.

Man, I'm going to be so embarassed when I start a strength program (most likely Starting Strength) this autumn. Hopefully my functional strength training I'm doing now will help my Big Three numbers not be afraid-to-log-them low. I can definitely tell my core and upper body has detrained. Mountain biking is killing my lower back right now.

LiquidMantis wrote:

Man, I'm going to be so embarassed when I start a strength program (most likely Starting Strength) this autumn. Hopefully my functional strength training I'm doing now will help my Big Three numbers not be afraid-to-log-them low. I can definitely tell my core and upper body has detrained. Mountain biking is killing my lower back right now.

Heh, take a look at my early numbers (February 1). I'm not doing exactly the Starting Strength workout, but I am doing one similar in philosophy. I'm about 6 weeks in at the moment, and things are progressing well, but the overhead press is getting challenging.

Yeah, don't worry about it. Everyone starts at low weights.

Hey Mantis, I have the SS DVD. Be glad to loan it to you if you promise not to dupe, and buy it if you really like it...

Miashara wrote:

Yeah, don't worry about it. Everyone starts at low weights.

This.

You know who doesn't start at low weights? Morons who are going to injure themselves.

Don't be one of them

I started with low weights. Today I did 405 on squats. Post-ACL surgery I started with the bar (and did machine weights with 10 pounds before that). Start slow and build from there. Once you get your form reasonably good you can increase pretty quickly.

Just did my first day of couch to 5k. Do any of you listen to music while running? Any recommendation for headphones would be wonderful.

Renji wrote:

Just did my first day of couch to 5k. Do any of you listen to music while running? Any recommendation for headphones would be wonderful.

I run/workout with my phone using these bluetooth headphones. It's a nice way to avoid entangling cords, and I've found these headphones to be excellent. One word of caution: they're excellent in terms of signal, but may occasionally cut out if you try to run with them in your shorts pocket. This isn't an issue if you run on a treadmill (obviously) or have some way to keep the phone within LoS of the headphones (I have a holder that I strap to my Camelbak when I do distance runs).

Sennheiser PMX80 have served me well.

Cod wrote:

Sennheiser PMX80 have served me well.

I use these too, they're pretty good and fairly affordable.

I use Sennheiser OMX 680i headphones
IMAGE(http://www.sennheiser.ca/live/prod_images/produit/Image%2029%20jpg.jpg)

They work pretty good once you get the bendy parts adjusted to your ears.

I use the LG Tone HBS 700s. I love them. They sound great and have not died due to sweat, yet (I sweat a LOT and already killed a set of Motorolas and a set of rocketfish. They don't feel heavy and stay in your ears pretty well. I really like the neck band. Much more than I thought I would. I like them enough that when I thought I lost them I ordered a new pair from Amazon the next day before looking around the house very thoroughly. Now I have two.

I also have a set of MEElectronics M6s. They sound quite good for a cheap set.

Finally cracked the top 500. At least for a day. I was within a few hundred points to I did some pull-ups and push-ups until I got there. Going on vacation this week so I'm sure I'll drop out pretty quickly but I think it's proof that fitocracy makes you work harder (at least it does me).

Renji wrote:

Just did my first day of couch to 5k. Do any of you listen to music while running? Any recommendation for headphones would be wonderful.

I'm back w/ couch to 5k too. I'm really pleased with Sennheiser PMX680 headphones. They stay in place, are comfortable, and the silicon doens't get all nasty w/ sweat like anything w/ foam pads does.

IMAGE(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41yv21f7V7L._AA300_.jpg)

The price is alright at Amazon too.

EvilHomer3k wrote:

Finally cracked the top 500. At least for a day. I was within a few hundred points to I did some pull-ups and push-ups until I got there. Going on vacation this week so I'm sure I'll drop out pretty quickly but I think it's proof that fitocracy makes you work harder (at least it does me).

That doesn't surprise me at all. You're certainly putting the time in. Go you.

The redesign is ghastly.

I don't mind the look, per se, but I'm not so nearsighted that I need a 20-point-font for everything. (And I liked seeing names instead of too-small impossible-to-recognize icons for "props".)

I definitely preferred it before, but I'll give it a chance and see if I can get used to it.

Ouch. Yeah, I'm going to second H to the Ickle and go with ghastly.

Haven't been on the site (or run at all) in nearly two weeks what with all the castle buying madness, I need to get back into it. Somewhat depressing that even though I haven't run at all, I'm still in the same spot on the challenge for the month.

I've been MIA on the Fitocracy board for the last few weeks, but have been logging my workouts on dead trees. Can't decide if it is worth the effort to plug them in.

Going on a week and a half of fighting this stupid cold or flu or whatever it is, I so look forward to getting back out and moving again. I do not look forward to the big step back I'll probably have to take in my Couch to 5K progress, however.

fleabagmatt wrote:

Going on a week and a half of fighting this stupid cold or flu or whatever it is, I so look forward to getting back out and moving again. I do not look forward to the big step back I'll probably have to take in my Couch to 5K progress, however.

It's no fun to take a step back, but it is much, much smarter than forcing progress after a layoff. I just listen to my internal Ving Rhames:

Marcellas Wallace wrote:

"The night of the big step back, you may feel a slight sting. That's pride f*cking with you. f*ck pride. Pride only hurts, it never helps.

fleabagmatt wrote:

Going on a week and a half of fighting this stupid cold or flu or whatever it is, I so look forward to getting back out and moving again. I do not look forward to the big step back I'll probably have to take in my Couch to 5K progress, however.

I'm there, coughing and sneezing with ya.

Paleocon wrote:

I've been MIA on the Fitocracy board for the last few weeks, but have been logging my workouts on dead trees. Can't decide if it is worth the effort to plug them in.

Same here. I've built up a couple hundred miles of cycling the last few weeks, but...eh.

Also, I think you can only go back 2-3 days, so anything beyond that is toast.

Minarchist wrote:
Paleocon wrote:

I've been MIA on the Fitocracy board for the last few weeks, but have been logging my workouts on dead trees. Can't decide if it is worth the effort to plug them in.

Same here. I've built up a couple hundred miles of cycling the last few weeks, but...eh.

Also, I think you can only go back 2-3 days, so anything beyond that is toast.

I'm having a hard time finding a reason to log my runs as well. Fitocracy is a cool idea and all, but it doesn't really give me an incentive to log and post, especially since the app on my phone automatically records all my runs for me. If it linked up to Fitocracy that would be great, but otherwise, I just generally can't be bothered.

drewskisama wrote:
Minarchist wrote:
Paleocon wrote:

I've been MIA on the Fitocracy board for the last few weeks, but have been logging my workouts on dead trees. Can't decide if it is worth the effort to plug them in.

Same here. I've built up a couple hundred miles of cycling the last few weeks, but...eh.

Also, I think you can only go back 2-3 days, so anything beyond that is toast.

I'm having a hard time finding a reason to log my runs as well. Fitocracy is a cool idea and all, but it doesn't really give me an incentive to log and post, especially since the app on my phone automatically records all my runs for me. If it linked up to Fitocracy that would be great, but otherwise, I just generally can't be bothered.

I am kind of the opposite. I don't much care about runkeeper. I use it to track stuff so I can log it into fitocracy but there's no competetive/social aspect (I don't have it integrated with facebook). The levels, leaderboards, and challenges on fitocracy seem to work for me.

Really new to fitocracy here, but I have found that getting my but kicked, points wise, by my little sister on a daily basis has been remarkably motivating.

I suppose that only lasts as long as she keeps logging everything, but it's working for me now.

I'm glad to read all these updates. For my part, I've been active, but not quite as regular as I'd like. I've been doing more strength training than cardio. Now that my son's many wrestling-team commitments are at an end, maybe that can change.

After bumping myself downward, I'm slowly crawling my weight-level up. I'm not EvilHomer, so I don't lift Buicks on each arm, but I'm pretty happy with BP's at 130 and very solid Squats at 190. But now I have to re-ramp the cardio back up because I have been invited to be on a 3-man Triathalon team (at SeaFair) here at work. We're a sponsor, so there are a small amount of free-participant vouchers available for employees. I'm looking forward to the event and the free, branded workout gear. Should be fun.

Regarding the Fitocracy site redesign, I approve, though with an asterisk. My main gripe is that there's so much wasted white-space on the left hand side. That could have been better. However, I don't know if any of you noticed, but it's much faster to scroll through activity and prop folks' workout. The site's snappier. The badges and the layout now match; I'd previously wondered why the new badges looked so different. Now I know.

I suspect we all have to warm up to it. Now that the iPhone app is released, I'm waiting patiently for an Android app. The only other thing that is a must-have (provided it's not abused): in-line images. If it's going to play at a social network, it might as well get that going.