Fitness Catch-All

Here is the tough mudder video for Wisconsin.

Yup, gonna have to do that.

I have been rocking this bad boy recently:
IMAGE(https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/377297_10151065917898786_350453297_n.jpg)

I have recently been suffering from a form of tendinitis in my feet recently and this was considered to be a great form of exercise for my condition. This bike is super low impact and very fun! I get a lot of attention too.

gizmo wrote:

Yup, gonna have to do that.

Totes.

Can anyone recommend a bodyweight workout routine? The wife's looking for some help cobbling one together.

I'm thinking something along the lines of:

Squats
Push ups
Walking lunges
Bench dips

But more variety

Take a look at bodyrock.tv. They do mostly bodyweight exercises with some sandbag and other minor equipment thrown in. The people who run it now are not as personable as the ones who ran it before but the workouts are still pretty good and give you lots of ideas. I'd also take a look at alkavadlo.com. Al's site is great but I feel it is geared more toward men than women. Some of his stuff requires a lot of strength per pound. Finally, the bodyweight bible by Mark Lauren. It's got a ton of varieties of bodyweight exercises. Mark breaks things down so that there are beginner, intermediate, and advanced versions of just about everything. If you only look at one source I like this one best as it is the most complete and flexible.

Taking what you've got I'd add:

Back and biceps:
Some kind of pull-up (al's site has some great stuff on working up to a pull-up) You can also do reverse push-ups using a desk or broom and some chairs. Basically you lay under the desk with your stomach facing up. Then grab the desk with your hands and pull yourself up. A lot of people can't do pull-ups but can do this.
bridges

Core:
Crunches
bicycles
planks
single-leg dead lifts (works hamstrings, glutes, back)
good mornings
supermans

Full body:
burpees
jumping stars
plank jacks
squat thrusts
bridges
dive-bomber push-ups

To add variety to the squats:
jumping stars
split squats
jumping split squats
single leg squats (pistol squats)
bulgarian squats
burpee variations

To add variety to the push-ups
elevated (feet) push-ups
altenating height push-ups (you can use a basketball under one hand, stop and switch - to make it more difficult you can do a push-up and then switch the hands without stopping)
narrow
alternating distance - one hand lower to the side and the "above" your shoulder - you can increase the difficulty by doing them with a jump and switch your hands in the air
clapping push-ups

Another plug for You Are Your Own Gym. That book is fantastic.

Good stuff chaps. Especially the book, Homer, I've just ordered a copy - cheers

Jonman wrote:

Can anyone recommend a bodyweight workout routine?

Here's mine:

25 burpees
35 crunches
50 jumping jacks
15 lunges (per side)
20 dips
15 bicycle abs (per side)
25 squats
90s plank

Minimal/no rest between exercises, 5m rest after one run through the circuit, do everything three times. It takes about an hour, and the only "equipment" that you need is a kitchen chair for the dips (and maybe a yoga mat for the crunches/bicycles).

It would be pretty easy to change any of the exercises from session to session for variety using some of EvilHomer's suggestions, above.

Jonman wrote:

Can anyone recommend a bodyweight workout routine? The wife's looking for some help cobbling one together.

I'm thinking something along the lines of:

Squats
Push ups
Walking lunges
Bench dips

But more variety

Those are some of the core body-weight moves; no calisthenics routine should be without at least one of those.

Try one pushing exercise (push-up, dips), one pulling exercises (pull-up, inverted row), core move (sit-up, crunch, plank) and some leg work (squat, lunge) done in ladder sequence: start with low reps, work up to near-failure, then repeat a few more times. If she's able to, keep the rest periods as short as possible and - especially if she's a beginner - keep the focus on solid form. So pretty much what AndewA said.

And Laruen's You Are Your Own Gym is fantastic; I can personally attest to it's usefulness. It has a great layout of all kinds of moves, and excellent periodization and progression.

I finished Tough Mudder! It was seriously the craziest, exhausting and most fun thing I have ever done in my life. I would definitly do it again and recommend it to anyone.

IMAGE(http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/404664_10151117433729639_198531757_n.jpg)

My sister was at that very tough mudder. Apparently the ice plunge was the worst obstacle in her opinion. Looks fun, glad you survived.

TempestBlayze wrote:

I finished Tough Mudder! It was seriously the craziest, exhausting and most fun thing I have ever done in my life. I would definitly do it again and recommend it to anyone.

IMAGE(http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/404664_10151117433729639_198531757_n.jpg)

Hmm. Is TempestBlayze really.....

IMAGE(http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/4e9c838eecad04183f000004/andrew-luck-plays-football-for-stanford-university-in-2011.jpg)

Haha seems like the only thing I have in common with Luck are the K9's.

Squee9 wrote:

My sister was at that very tough mudder. Apparently the ice plunge was the worst obstacle in her opinion. Looks fun, glad you survived.

The ice plunge wasn't that bad. My feet were numb for a couple of minutes but the running, plus mud mountains right after made the numbness fade quick.

There may not be enough time left in the year to accomplish my goal. Clearly, I need to do more grunting.

For those people on the heavier side doing 5v5. What did you do diet wise? Cardio wise?

karmajay wrote:

For those people on the heavier side doing 5v5. What did you do diet wise? Cardio wise?

Not really that much on the heavier side myself, but I simply made sure that I was eating more protein than I normally would when I was doing SL 5x5. I wasn't really looking to lose weight though, simply build some strength.

Not sure what your cutoff is for "on the heavy side" but I'm 225 and 5'11" with a body fat around 15%. I wasn't trying to lose weight but didn't want to gain weight either. A lot of stuff I read is that most people don't get enough. Basically you should follow a diet that is high in quality protein,vegetable, and whole grains. Try to get 1 gram of protein per pound of lean body mass.

EvilHomer3k wrote:

Not sure what your cutoff is for "on the heavy side" but I'm 225 and 5'11" with a body fat around 15%. I wasn't trying to lose weight but didn't want to gain weight either. A lot of stuff I read is that most people don't get enough. Basically you should follow a diet that is high in quality protein,vegetable, and whole grains. Try to get 1 gram of protein per pound of lean body mass.

Eat 6-7 small meals during the day instead of 3 large ones. Keeps your metabolism up throughout the day. Also try to cut down on your carbs as you get closer to the end of the day.

Gumbie wrote:
EvilHomer3k wrote:

Not sure what your cutoff is for "on the heavy side" but I'm 225 and 5'11" with a body fat around 15%. I wasn't trying to lose weight but didn't want to gain weight either. A lot of stuff I read is that most people don't get enough. Basically you should follow a diet that is high in quality protein,vegetable, and whole grains. Try to get 1 gram of protein per pound of lean body mass.

Eat 6-7 small meals during the day instead of 3 large ones. Keeps your metabolism up throughout the day. Also try to cut down on your carbs as you get closer to the end of the day.

I hear this advise repeated a lot (6-7 small meals) but it's basically impossible if you have a family and sit down for a family dinner. Sure, you COULD do it... but either you get your entire family on board, or else you nibble while everyone eats a more full meal. It seems like good advise for single folks, but utterly impractical for the rest of the world.

Gumbie wrote:
EvilHomer3k wrote:

Not sure what your cutoff is for "on the heavy side" but I'm 225 and 5'11" with a body fat around 15%. I wasn't trying to lose weight but didn't want to gain weight either. A lot of stuff I read is that most people don't get enough. Basically you should follow a diet that is high in quality protein,vegetable, and whole grains. Try to get 1 gram of protein per pound of lean body mass.

Eat 6-7 small meals during the day instead of 3 large ones. Keeps your metabolism up throughout the day. Also try to cut down on your carbs as you get closer to the end of the day.

What time of day you consume your carbs makes no difference. It's a fitness myth that refuses to die, despite being widely debunked.

As does the 6-7 meals a day. Myth. You can eat the same healthy balanced diet in 3 meals, or 7 meals, and see no difference in your body's response. It's far more about which plan fits better into your life. It's the healthy balanced part that you want to get right.

EvilHomer3k wrote:

Not sure what your cutoff is for "on the heavy side" but I'm 225 and 5'11" with a body fat around 15%. I wasn't trying to lose weight but didn't want to gain weight either. A lot of stuff I read is that most people don't get enough. Basically you should follow a diet that is high in quality protein,vegetable, and whole grains. Try to get 1 gram of protein per pound of lean body mass.

I guess what I meant was overweight hehe. I understand that when you are lifting a bunch weight becomes subjective but I don't plan on eating more then maintenance calories until I stop seeing strength gains I guess. By then I should have shed some belly size. Thanks for the answers all

The 6-7 meal a day thing works, but not because of any metabolism reasons. If a person plans for 6 meals a day, they have something ready for when they are hungry at any time.

Preparing and eating three healthy meals a day is great, but eating a couple donuts with your coffee at 10 and then a bag of chips with a soda at 230 everyday will wreck you. Planning a bunch of little meals means you have some vegetables or mixed nuts ready at a moment's notice.

Jonman is quite correct, but there the spirit of the advice makes sense.

Squee9 wrote:

The 6-7 meal a day thing works, but not because of any metabolism reasons. If a person plans for 6 meals a day, they have something ready for when they are hungry at any time.

Preparing and eating three healthy meals a day is great, but eating a couple donuts with your coffee at 10 and then a bag of chips with a soda at 230 everyday will wreck you. Planning a bunch of little meals means you have some vegetables or mixed nuts ready at a moment's notice.

Jonman is quite correct, but there the spirit of the advice makes sense.

Sure, but that logic can be applied equally to 3 meals a day. Either way, forethought is what's required to defeat the Snackapotamus. I eat 3 meals a day. I also take a small pot of hummus and baby carrots to work, and I keep a bag of unsalted almonds in my desk, for precisely that reason.

Proper Planning Prevents Piss-Poor Performance!

karmajay wrote:
EvilHomer3k wrote:

Not sure what your cutoff is for "on the heavy side" but I'm 225 and 5'11" with a body fat around 15%. I wasn't trying to lose weight but didn't want to gain weight either. A lot of stuff I read is that most people don't get enough. Basically you should follow a diet that is high in quality protein,vegetable, and whole grains. Try to get 1 gram of protein per pound of lean body mass.

I guess what I meant was overweight hehe. I understand that when you are lifting a bunch weight becomes subjective but I don't plan on eating more then maintenance calories until I stop seeing strength gains I guess. By then I should have shed some belly size. Thanks for the answers all :)

Yeah, one simple way is to do that. Keep going with both weights and weight loss, and when you hit a plateau, look at what might be the culprit. Could be not enough protein. Or a general diet problem. Or a form problem. Or a sleep problem.

Jonman wrote:
Squee9 wrote:

The 6-7 meal a day thing works, but not because of any metabolism reasons. If a person plans for 6 meals a day, they have something ready for when they are hungry at any time.

Preparing and eating three healthy meals a day is great, but eating a couple donuts with your coffee at 10 and then a bag of chips with a soda at 230 everyday will wreck you. Planning a bunch of little meals means you have some vegetables or mixed nuts ready at a moment's notice.

Jonman is quite correct, but there the spirit of the advice makes sense.

Sure, but that logic can be applied equally to 3 meals a day. Either way, forethought is what's required to defeat the Snackapotamus. I eat 3 meals a day. I also take a small pot of hummus and baby carrots to work, and I keep a bag of unsalted almonds in my desk, for precisely that reason.

Exactly, it's just easy to market a diet as, "lose weight by preparing 6-7 small meals a day!" It's a bit more catchy than, "prepare and eat healthy snacks."

I agree with you, but I'm defending the success of the 6-7 meal thing as a PR scheme.

Anyone else doing obstacle races this season? I just got around to registering for next year's Spartan Beast in Killington, and I'm working on figuring out what the rest of my season will look like. After spending all last season cajoling them, I finally got my trainer and some gym people to try a Spartan race at Fenway last Nov, and they're hooked, so we've got a bunch of people planning to run these. After running solo for two seasons, it'll be interesting having a regular team to go with.

Chaz wrote:

Anyone else doing obstacle races this season? I just got around to registering for next year's Spartan Beast in Killington, and I'm working on figuring out what the rest of my season will look like. After spending all last season cajoling them, I finally got my trainer and some gym people to try a Spartan race at Fenway last Nov, and they're hooked, so we've got a bunch of people planning to run these. After running solo for two seasons, it'll be interesting having a regular team to go with.

Me and about 20 other teachers at my wife's school are doing a Spartan Sprint up here in Ottawa. Another friend did it last year and had a blast doing it. I a really looking forward to it.

Love the new sig, Jonman.

Dimmerswitch wrote:

Love the new sig, Jonman. :D

Figured that it would save the rest of you from being subjected to me explaining it *again*.