2014 FITNESS CHALLENGE

[tbbucsfan001]

Re: 2014 FITNESS CHALLENGE

Started the year at 286 lbs, kicked the diet in gear cutting carbs and timing my meals better. Upped my cardio to 4 days a week 45 minutes. Working around a shoulder injury and still hitting the weights, bench press is down from 315 for a ten set to 295 but I will live.


Today's weight 265 already

Glad to see some solid improvement already. Started the year at 290 and already down to 275 just from getting a sales job where I'm always on my feet and balling at the gym a few times a week.

[Feared]

Re: 2014 FITNESS CHALLENGE

Anybody do Yoga or Pilates? As soon as my back heals from surgery, I want to do one of these to strengthen my core and improve my overall health.

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Strengthening your core, and improving your posture are great ways to protect your back from injury. My core training routine includes glute bridges, bird dogs with hold at the top, prone cobras, planks, side planks, back extensions, sidelying clams, and hip abductions.

I do most of those as rehab for my knee injury but they are great core targeted exercises that really made me realize how much i was neglecting my core when in the past all I did were Momentum sit-ups, ( bad for your back) oblique twists, and sloppy mountain climbers, thinking i would get a six pack from doing those lol.

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[cjonesfan921]

Re: 2014 FITNESS CHALLENGE

How is DDP Yoga structured? How long are the workouts? And can it be done in a small-ish area?

[Rules]

Re: 2014 FITNESS CHALLENGE

How is DDP Yoga structured? How long are the workouts? And can it be done in a small-ish area?

Here are a few videos to give you a better idea. Workouts run from 25 minutes up to a hour. You can adapt it and the time as you see fit. Yes it can be done in small spaces. Not running around or anything considered high impact. It is helping me tremendously. I used to hurt my back constantly but now I don't have back pain or knee pain. It is strengthening my muscles and stretching feels great especially after weight lifting.

Click on pack samples:

http://www.ddpyoga.com/max-pack-dvds-6-dvds-poster-and-program-guide.html

[DJ]

Re: 2014 FITNESS CHALLENGE

Anyone workout before they go to work in the morning? Am thinking of doing this 2x a week, just need to figure out what time to get up and get a quick bite in (can't workout on an empty stomach), then go to the gym, return home and get ready for work. Gym is 5 minutes away from my house, which helps.

[Antec]

Re: 2014 FITNESS CHALLENGE

During the summer I would workout before work. I'd go to the gym for an hour at 7:15 and had to be at work for 9. Gym was a 15 min drive so I'd be home for 8:30. Luckily I live about 1.5 minutes from work. I still go to the gym in the morning but I don't have to work until later during the winter. I never eat breakfast before the gym.

[Money99]

Re: 2014 FITNESS CHALLENGE

As I get older it's harder & harder to meet my dietary goals due to a full-time job, wife & a newborn. I'm not disciplined enough to prep my meals yet so a supplement here & there helps make up for lost time. I take a multi, fish oil, biotin, and turmeric for my joints. I put the biotin, turmeric, and some flaxseed in my protein smoothie.

Bingo. If I had infinite free time, I'd prepare my lunches well in advance.
But I don't.

When I could afford Protein shakes it did a great job of adding mass. Same with Creatine.

But I've grown weary of consuming anything from a bottle anymore. I have no idea what the longterm effects of Creatine are and I'm not convinced there aren't additives or preservatives that could have adverse affects from Protein.
I guess I've gotten paranoid in my old age, haha.

During the summer I would workout before work. I'd go to the gym for an hour at 7:15 and had to be at work for 9. Gym was a 15 min drive so I'd be home for 8:30. Luckily I live about 1.5 minutes from work. I still go to the gym in the morning but I don't have to work until later during the winter. I never eat breakfast before the gym.

With my old job, I'd go at 5:30 in the morning.
It took some time to fully wake up, but once I got to the gym, I liked how dead it was in there and how once work was done, I could go straight home, and not to the gym.
But I found that I could never lift as much in the early mornings as the afternoon's. No matter what I tried, I couldn't get my body to fully wake up that early, haha.

I also never ate before my workout. My stomach's pretty sensitive so it was nothing for me to feel a touch nauseous after eating so early in the morning.

[Feared]

Re: 2014 FITNESS CHALLENGE

Yeah for some reason I'm never hungry in the morning, I only maybe have an Apple and a Protein Scoop within the first hour or so of waking up just to get something in. I equate my stomach to an old engine starting up in the winter, it takes it a while to rev up. The appetite starts to kick in about 1-2 hours after getting up.

Except when I was taking the Animal Pack Multi-Vitamin stack.. for some reason that stuff super charged my metabolism and suddenly made me feel hungry.. like all the time; and I'm a skinny guy who never gets hungry... I would wake up take a packet of that stuff and boom in 15 mins I'm eating a 5 egg, 2 toast, Full bowl of Oats meal and I'm downing it all; then I'd be hungry again in an hour. It was amazing, I think part of the multi is a digestive enzyme blend so that could explain it. I got a sample 14 pack so I'm out, but I'm seriously contemplating prdering the Full size 28 pack bottles and using Animal Pak all year round; to get some serious bulk on.

[DJ]

Re: 2014 FITNESS CHALLENGE

Thanks, guys. Yeah, I'm not talking about having a full meal before I go train in the morning, just a few bites of a protein bar or maybe make half of a pre-workout drink. I've tried training on an empty stomach and I start feeling dizzy/light-headed after a while.

I'd be getting to the gym by 6:15-6:20, so would need to get up by 5:45 it looks like to have enough time to change, have a quick bite and be on my way.

[Money99]

Re: 2014 FITNESS CHALLENGE

Thanks, guys. Yeah, I'm not talking about having a full meal before I go train in the morning, just a few bites of a protein bar or maybe make half of a pre-workout drink. I've tried training on an empty stomach and I start feeling dizzy/light-headed after a while.

I'd be getting to the gym by 6:15-6:20, so would need to get up by 5:45 it looks like to have enough time to change, have a quick bite and be on my way.

Good stuff DJ. If you're feeling light headed, then you don't want to mess around with that.
It's not safe and you probably wouldn't get in a good workout.

I can't say I miss getting up early for workouts, but I always felt more fresh to start my day after pumping some iron.
Good luck!

[DJ]

Re: 2014 FITNESS CHALLENGE

Good stuff DJ. If you're feeling light headed, then you don't want to mess around with that.
It's not safe and you probably wouldn't get in a good workout.

I can't say I miss getting up early for workouts, but I always felt more fresh to start my day after pumping some iron.
Good luck!

I just think if I'm going to be consistent with my training again, I'll have to go early because I'm usually wiped at the end of the day from work ... plus, I don't always get to leave the office right at 5 p.m. so that complicates things, too.

[Feared]

Re: 2014 FITNESS CHALLENGE

I just think if I'm going to be consistent with my training again, I'll have to go early because I'm usually wiped at the end of the day from work ... plus, I don't always get to leave the office right at 5 p.m. so that complicates things, too.

If you're going to go the gym really early, you might need to alter your sleep schedule to go to bed earlier... Sounds crazy but you might need to be in bed by 9-9:30ish so you can get the a full amount of sleep and be up around 4:30-5. That way you get an hour or so to "wake" your body up. Before going to the gym and pounding weight.

I know myself I can't just wake up and go into a workout cold, I need to be up and around and probably do 15-20 minutes of stretching, warm ups just to get the muscles firing and get the proper blood flow going. Because I'm naturally really tight in the morning after waking up.

Just set up a consistent sleep schedule and your body will get used to it, and going to the gym that early will become second nature.

[Money99]

Re: 2014 FITNESS CHALLENGE

I just think if I'm going to be consistent with my training again, I'll have to go early because I'm usually wiped at the end of the day from work ... plus, I don't always get to leave the office right at 5 p.m. so that complicates things, too.

Not sure what program you're going to do, but I've really enjoyed the Madcow 5x5 program.
It's ridiculously simple and short and I've had really good results from it.

The hardest part is not adding more than what's listed.
You won't be winded or drenched with sweat so you'll think you haven't done enough.
But when you start hitting new records after only 4 weeks, you'll see that it's working.

I can't say enough about this program.
I've done so many routines; splits, high reps, high volume, etc, but this program has really recharged me physically and mentally.

[DJ]

Re: 2014 FITNESS CHALLENGE

If you're going to go the gym really early, you might need to alter your sleep schedule to go to bed earlier... Sounds crazy but you might need to be in bed by 9-9:30ish so you can get the a full amount of sleep and be up around 4:30-5. That way you get an hour or so to "wake" your body up. Before going to the gym and pounding weight.

I know myself I can't just wake up and go into a workout cold, I need to be up and around and probably do 15-20 minutes of stretching, warm ups just to get the muscles firing and get the proper blood flow going. Because I'm naturally really tight in the morning after waking up.

Just set up a consistent sleep schedule and your body will get used to it, and going to the gym that early will become second nature.

Oh, no doubt on the sleep schedule. I've been going to bed earlier recently anyway, which I credit to my workouts. I'm also trying to unplug in the evenings and not be on the CPU/iPad or play video games so I can shut my brain off.

I wouldn't be lifting every morning that I worked out. I need to bump my weekly runs up from 2 days a week to 4, so could be that I run on one of those mornings that I get up early and then lift the next day. I'm thinking Tuesday and Thursday for the early wake-up calls.

Not sure what program you're going to do, but I've really enjoyed the Madcow 5x5 program.
It's ridiculously simple and short and I've had really good results from it.

The hardest part is not adding more than what's listed.
You won't be winded or drenched with sweat so you'll think you haven't done enough.
But when you start hitting new records after only 4 weeks, you'll see that it's working.

I can't say enough about this program.
I've done so many routines; splits, high reps, high volume, etc, but this program has really recharged me physically and mentally.

I love 5x5. I've got a few really good programs by Dan John and Chad Waterbury (I was a regular over on the T-Nation.com forums for years). TBT is deceptive, but that's why I love it. Maximize my time and the gains show up if you do the program right.

[Money99]

Re: 2014 FITNESS CHALLENGE

I love 5x5. I've got a few really good programs by Dan John and Chad Waterbury (I was a regular over on the T-Nation.com forums for years). TBT is deceptive, but that's why I love it. Maximize my time and the gains show up if you do the program right.

I never even gave TBT a thought until about a year ago.
Until then, I just did what magazines told me I should be doing - splits.

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with splits, but for my genetics, time and age, I find TBT fits perfectly with my lifestyle.
I love having a full body pump afterward.
And it keeps me from getting bored. I can't tell you how many times I'd be half-way through my 12-sets of chest and think "I've got 6 more of these?!?!". Then follow up with 10 more for shoulders, or back. Talk about monotonous.
And then if I couldn't get to the gym on one day, I'd miss out entirely on that muscle group.

So total body workouts using compound movements has been working well for me - mostly psychologically.