I wanted to create a topic that was about fitness in general. I know we have fitocracy but a lot of people aren't a part of the group and the ones that are don't really talk about what they are doing all that much. In here I figured we could talk about exercising, dieting, goals, advice or really any activities that involve being fit (ex. Running, Martial Arts). I'll start...
I'm starting back jujitsu after a 1 1/2 year break. I'm a little concerned with how bad my cardio and stamina will be. I've been doing p90x, but that focuses much more on strength than cardio. Also the past several months I've been eating a strict low fat diet trying to drop some body fat percentages. I was actually doing really good until I went to Cancun on vacation for a week. I ate like crap there and ever since I got back a few weeks ago I've fallen back into my old habits of fast food, fast food, and more fast food. Surprisingly enough I haven't seen a big weight gain...yet. Any day now I expect it to all catch up and gain 10-15 pounds overnight.
I've been mostly concentrating on weight training and diet correction for the last few months. I've managed to get my squat up to 375 and my bench up to 255. I'm doing the T-bar row with 3 plates plus 35 and have my wide grip pull ups to 4 sets of 12. I'm also eating 7-8 times per day and keeping my intake pretty low. I make sure to get at least 20 grams of protein each meal and pile on the fresh vegetables, but even still, I'm not losing any weight (still holding steady at 195).
I definitely look and feel better. I'm stronger for sure and don't feel tired, but I'm still struggling with busting the belly. I can tell that there is ab muscle underneath, but that last layer of fat isn't going easily.
I figure I should probably just toss on the cardio at this point, but I don't want to do it while I'm working my strength.
Oh. And folks who do curls or shrugs at the squat rack should be forced to clean all the sweaty fitness equipment with their tongues.
Anyone tried Strong Lifts/Starting Strength? Me and my brother were thinking about getting into one and we wanted to know if it's worked for anyone/any tips that you could offer if it has.
Anyone tried Strong Lifts/Starting Strength? Me and my brother were thinking about getting into one and we wanted to know if it's worked for anyone/any tips that you could offer if it has.
Been doing Stronglifts 5x5 for about six months now. I read the Starting Strength book for information on technique and how to understand the lifts, and do them correctly.
The most important thing is not to overestimate yourself, and start working on form with the empty bar. You'll be embarrassed to start with the empty bar, for sure, but I recommend it. That way, you're not overestimating your abilities, and you get the form correct right off the bat. Here are the resources I used to get moving on SL 5x5:
stronglifts.com - The base program and some details and advice on lifts.
Starting Strength - The single best weightlifting advice you can get short of an actual coach that follows Rippetoe's philosophy.
Great video on the Overhead Press(there's actually a part 2 of this video as well) - That's Rippetoe actually coaching there. The overhead press has been THE most difficult lift I've done to date on this program. I only link that video because it's been hard to find other videos as effectively instructional. Stronglifts.com has a few for the other lifts which are sufficient.
My accomplishments:
My max squat has been up to 270. I'm back down to 230 at the moment because a combination of a vacation and injury sidelined me for nearly three weeks.
Max deadlift: 310. At this kind of weight, it's hard to actually grip the bar, so I'm probably going to have to invest in wrist straps to go any higher than this.
IMHO, the other lifts have been unremarkable in their progress, which is to say I've followed a straight line in progression as expected. Except for the overhead press. I've plateaued at about 110 since month 2. It sucks. I have no idea how to fix it.
Any other questions, just ask.
Faceless Joe wrote:Anyone tried Strong Lifts/Starting Strength? Me and my brother were thinking about getting into one and we wanted to know if it's worked for anyone/any tips that you could offer if it has.
Been doing Stronglifts 5x5 for about six months now. I read the Starting Strength book for information on technique and how to understand the lifts, and do them correctly.
The most important thing is not to overestimate yourself, and start working on form with the empty bar. You'll be embarrassed to start with the empty bar, for sure, but I recommend it. That way, you're not overestimating your abilities, and you get the form correct right off the bat. Here are the resources I used to get moving on SL 5x5:
stronglifts.com - The base program and some details and advice on lifts.
Starting Strength - The single best weightlifting advice you can get short of an actual coach that follows Rippetoe's philosophy.
Great video on the Overhead Press(there's actually a part 2 of this video as well) - That's Rippetoe actually coaching there. The overhead press has been THE most difficult lift I've done to date on this program. I only link that video because it's been hard to find other videos as effectively instructional. Stronglifts.com has a few for the other lifts which are sufficient.
My accomplishments:
My max squat has been up to 270. I'm back down to 230 at the moment because a combination of a vacation and injury sidelined me for nearly three weeks.
Max deadlift: 310. At this kind of weight, it's hard to actually grip the bar, so I'm probably going to have to invest in wrist straps to go any higher than this.
IMHO, the other lifts have been unremarkable in their progress, which is to say I've followed a straight line in progression as expected. Except for the overhead press. I've plateaued at about 110 since month 2. It sucks. I have no idea how to fix it.
Any other questions, just ask.
Awesome. Fortunately, I've had experience with weightlifting through a Crossfit program I was apart of so I'm a bit ahead of the game. I'll hit you up if I need to know something specific.
Finished p90x a couple weeks ago. Starting again Monday, but doing the Lean version so more aerobics and less strength work, trying to burn more off the belly.
I spent a week in Atlanta on training and was afraid I'd be off my program with all the eating out and limited access to fitness facilities. But the HR folks set me up in a Residence Inn where I could cook and had a full size fridge. They also showed me where I could get a week long gym membership and groceries.
While I was there, I mixed it up and just did a two day slit routine that I cycled through twice. First day was chest/back/arms. The second was legs/shoulders/abs.
The diet part is always the most difficult, but I started the week off with a bunch of bags of groceries so I was set. I bought a ton of yogurt, eggs, turkey breast, lettuce, carrots, fruit, and a loaf of whole wheat bread. While everyone else was out eating pizza and Mexican food, I was dining on lean turkey breast sandwiches.
I did drink a bit more than I wanted to, but that is what you do for bonding with your colleagues. That probably set me back a little, but on the whole, I think I stuck with my program.
I was able to lose 60 lbs with diet alone. I've never been a fan of exercise so I decided to try just diet. I went and saw a dietitian. He basically said, "Take a regular sized dinner plate and draw a line down the center, then divide one half into two fourths. One fourth you fill with protein the other with carbs. Then the other halg of the plate is strictly for non-starchy fresh/steamed veggies, as many as you can eat. Also, eat 8-10 ounces of low fat dairy and a fruit. I did that for 8 months and like I said lost 60 pounds.
Now I have stopped losing so I started to exercise. Thanks to Zombies, Run! I have some motivation to make me jog. I usually do 1.5 miles a day. To early to see the benefits yet though.
Diet to look good in clothes. Lift to look good naked.
Oh, and folks who don't rack their weights after they're done using them should have to tie them to their nuts for a week.
I happened to stumble upon this documentary last week that has me absolutely fascinated with the idea of a juice fast. The documentary was called Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead. It's a really good watch and there are some amazing weight loss & health improvement stories. My takeaway from the movie is that a lot of the processed "foods" that we're currently eating are basically slowly poisoning us to death. I think you'll enjoy it.
You can either just google the title and watch it on YouTube or Hulu. It's also available at www.jointhereboot.com.
Now back to juicer shopping! 
I happened to stumble upon this documentary last week that has me absolutely fascinated with the idea of a juice fast. The documentary was called Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead. It's a really good watch and there are some amazing weight loss & health improvement stories. My takeaway from the movie is that a lot of the processed "foods" that we're currently eating are basically slowly poisoning us to death. I think you'll enjoy it.
You can either just google the title and watch it on YouTube or Hulu. It's also available at www.jointhereboot.com.
Now back to juicer shopping! :)
Folks in the US clearly don't get enough fresh fruit and veg in their diets. I try to make sure I get at least 7-8 servings/day. When I'm "mouth hungry" (not stomach hungry) at my desk, I make sure I have carrots and celery to munch on just to keep me from raiding the office candy jar. Probably the most processed item in my entire diet is cold cuts and even that isn't that bad.
I used to think it was just that I was blessed with good genetics that I'm in much better shape than other folks my age, but my brother is a complete mess from a health standpoint and I'm increasingly convinced that it is all about lifestyle. He observes with some accuracy that his injuries (back, knee, etc.) prevent him from the kind of activity I do on a regular basis, but I suspect that his extra 50 pounds probably contributes to it. Start off slow, but don't stop and you'd be amazed where it will lead you.
oh and...
The Differenceby Andrei Codrescu
There is a new Burger King going up down the street and nobody cares. In a couple of days when it's finished everyone will think it's been there forever. It bugs me for six reasons.
Number one: They kill cows. Number two: The cows they kill graze on the site of murdered forests. Number three: The cows they kill that killed the forests are full of hormones. Number for: The hormone-full cows they kill that killed the forests are full of bad-for-your heart fat. Number five: The bad-for-your-heart hormone-full, forest-killing dead cows are wrapped in bad-for-the-earth plastic and number six: What the hell is a Burger King anyhow?A burgher is traditionally and originally a tradesman who lived in a city, while a king is an aristocrat. Burghers and kings are traditional enemies, hence the phrase is absurd. I know "burger" is short for hamburger and "king" means nothing in America. Still it bugs me that bad-for-your-heart hormone-full forest-killing cows wrapped in bad-for-the-earth plastic are also linguistically unpalatable. Maybe you can live with that. I can't.
A friend of mine imagined a prison without bars, where you go in skinny and then they feed you so many burgers you can't go out the same door. Who needs bars? We've got Burger King.
I saw a dog the other day eating leftover burger in a parking lot behind another Burger King. Did he know he was eating a cow? Did he know he was eating something ten times bigger than he was? I asked him and he said he knew all that, but he ate it nonetheless because it was free. I then asked a man coming out why he ate at Burger King and he said that it was cheap. And then I heard someone say that the reason we treat animals so badly is because they don't have any money. We treat children badly for the same reason, though we don't eat them.
Perhaps the time has come for animals to get paid for what they do. Perhaps the time has come for us to eat our children. Or maybe we should just tear down the Burger Kings.
When I read articles like that I can't help but wonder about the flip side. The author is right, fast food is readily available and cheap. Most agree that eating fast food and hormone pumped cows is bad but could we even produce enough veggies to support a primarily vegan world? How many additional acres of forest would we lose and how many acres of grassland would need to be plowed to support a vegan population?
When I read articles like that I can't help but wonder about the flip side. The author is right, fast food is readily available and cheap. Most agree that eating fast food and hormone pumped cows is bad but could we even produce enough veggies to support a primarily vegan world? How many additional acres of forest would we lose and how many acres of grassland would need to be plowed to support a vegan population?
Most of the stuff I've read indicates that it would be many times easier to feed a vegetarian world. Meat is, in just about every instance, a luxury food (in that it requires more input in water, effort, and nutrients than it produces).
When I read articles like that I can't help but wonder about the flip side. The author is right, fast food is readily available and cheap.
Fruits and vegetables are readily available and cheap. Add in some cheap rice or pasta. It would just take 20 minutes of effort to make something with them instead of 20 of minutes of going to the drive thru line.
Bear wrote:When I read articles like that I can't help but wonder about the flip side. The author is right, fast food is readily available and cheap. Most agree that eating fast food and hormone pumped cows is bad but could we even produce enough veggies to support a primarily vegan world? How many additional acres of forest would we lose and how many acres of grassland would need to be plowed to support a vegan population?
Most of the stuff I've read indicates that it would be many times easier to feed a vegetarian world. Meat is, in just about every instance, a luxury food (in that it requires more input in water, effort, and nutrients than it produces).
Right, all that meat is coming from corn, and it takes a LOT of corn to grow and fatten up a cow. It takes a lot less land/resources to grow fruit, vegetables and grains than it does for meat.
Bear wrote:When I read articles like that I can't help but wonder about the flip side. The author is right, fast food is readily available and cheap.
Fruits and vegetables are readily available and cheap. Add in some cheap rice or pasta. It would just take 20 minutes of effort to make something with them instead of 20 of minutes of going to the drive thru line.
What often gets missed in all of this is the $/calorie ratio of healthy foods vs fast food. Could it be easier? Yes, but there isn't anything "cheap" about fresh produce.
Oh, and folks who don't rack their weights after they're done using them should have to tie them to their nuts for a week.
Gym etiquette is a dying phenomenon. I occasionally make use of my alma mater's campus gym (free membership, so why not, right?), and am appalled at how the college jocks just leave shit all over the goddamn place. Fortunately, I have the proper equipment at home, and don't have to subject myself to such incivility. =P
My workout, though, is pretty simple: my template is taken from the "Rite of Passage" protocol found in Enter the Kettlebell (with a few modifications). It's basically 3 days of protocol-based ladder workouts consisting of kettlebell clean and presses followed by L-Sit pull-ups, and ending with high-rep swings or snatches. The other two workout days are "variety" (supplemental) days, where I can pretty much do what I want so long as I don't smoke my muscles. Starting this week, I'll be adding low-rep ladder sets of one-legged squats, one-arm push-ups, one-arm rows, and hanging leg raises for my variety days. In all my workouts, I try to keep the rest periods down to an absolute minimum while giving myself enough time to "shake it out" for the next set. Other than that, I do interval runs 2-3 days per week.
LeapingGnome wrote:Bear wrote:When I read articles like that I can't help but wonder about the flip side. The author is right, fast food is readily available and cheap.
Fruits and vegetables are readily available and cheap. Add in some cheap rice or pasta. It would just take 20 minutes of effort to make something with them instead of 20 of minutes of going to the drive thru line.
What often gets missed in all of this is the $/calorie ratio of healthy foods vs fast food. Could it be easier? Yes, but there isn't anything "cheap" about fresh produce.
Most people eat more calories than they need anyway. 
AnimeJ wrote:LeapingGnome wrote:Bear wrote:When I read articles like that I can't help but wonder about the flip side. The author is right, fast food is readily available and cheap.
Fruits and vegetables are readily available and cheap. Add in some cheap rice or pasta. It would just take 20 minutes of effort to make something with them instead of 20 of minutes of going to the drive thru line.
What often gets missed in all of this is the $/calorie ratio of healthy foods vs fast food. Could it be easier? Yes, but there isn't anything "cheap" about fresh produce.
Most people eat more calories than they need anyway. :P
Yep, but that doesn't change the fact that to get enough eating well, you have to spend more than you do eating crap.
I didn't start dieting to look good. It was all about being healthy. Looking a little better is just a plus. I realized I had to do something when my doctor asked me how much alcohol I drink and I said none at all. He was shocked because my liver looked similar to an alcoholic's. My good and bad cholesterol were backwards, I had acid reflux and heart murmur all at the age of 25. Now all that is pretty much gone.
stronglifts.com - The base program and some details and advice on lifts.
Do you know anyone else that has used this program successfully?
stronglifts.com - The base program and some details and advice on lifts.Do you know anyone else that has used this program successfully?
Not personally, but I've certainly gotten stronger from it. I've never weightlifted before this.
I really struggle with the motivation to lift weights. I can run/swim/yoga without external motivation, but lifting weights seems to be roughly equivalent to flossing my teeth...good for me in the long run but not enjoyable. Has anyone had a similar lack of motivation and found a way to make lifting heavy objects repeatedly more fun?
If you want to work on strength, but dislike weights, look into bodyweight exercises. Pushups, Pullups, Situps, et al.
edit for side thought: When I went through USAF BMT 10 years ago, all our workouts were cardio or body weight strength training. Over the 6 weeks I was there, I slimmed almost 2 inches off my waist and put on nearly 30 pounds, went from 6'2" @ 165 w/ 35" waist to 6'1" @ 195lbs w/ 33.5" waist.
I really struggle with the motivation to lift weights. I can run/swim/yoga without external motivation, but lifting weights seems to be roughly equivalent to flossing my teeth...good for me in the long run but not enjoyable. Has anyone had a similar lack of motivation and found a way to make lifting heavy objects repeatedly more fun?
The only time I ever "enjoyed" monotony such as this was when I had 3-4 friends that would actually show up 3-4 times a week. Whenever I was alone or a random spotter it felt like erm...work. Then again I haven't been in a weight room in about 7 years.
I really struggle with the motivation to lift weights. I can run/swim/yoga without external motivation, but lifting weights seems to be roughly equivalent to flossing my teeth...good for me in the long run but not enjoyable. Has anyone had a similar lack of motivation and found a way to make lifting heavy objects repeatedly more fun?
+1
I run 5 days a week, usually throwing in some push up reps, but lifting weights, forget about it. My wife and I bought a set of kettlebells that just make an ugly decoration next to our treadmill.
I happened to stumble upon this documentary last week that has me absolutely fascinated with the idea of a juice fast. The documentary was called Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead. It's a really good watch and there are some amazing weight loss & health improvement stories. My takeaway from the movie is that a lot of the processed "foods" that we're currently eating are basically slowly poisoning us to death. I think you'll enjoy it.
You can either just google the title and watch it on YouTube or Hulu. It's also available at www.jointhereboot.com.
Now back to juicer shopping! :)
That's a great documentary and it was one of the catalysts that got me (and the wife) into juicing. If you're looking for a good mid-level juicer that won't break the bank, check out this Breville ($150). We had a great results with it as did a few couples that we talk nutrition with. We used it for over a year and moved on to a Vita-mix ($450). The Vitamix is more of an all inclusive appliance but it can juice very well and we like that it incorporates all the nutrients, fiber, etc. that are normally lost with machines that separate juice from pulp. It also makes some killer frozen ice and ice cream!
I don't know, I guess I get a kick out of the idea that I'm improving myself. I weightlift "alone" technically, though the gym is never empty. Once I get started, I'm fine.
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