2017 Fitness Challenge

[Herky]

Re: 2017 Fitness Challenge

Going to start DDP Yoga tonight. Never thought I'd do yoga since I'm mainly lifted weights to stay in shape. I also ran track in college and have stayed in shape for the majority of my life. However we just had a baby and my time to workout is limited so these 30 to 40 min workouts I can do at seem to fit. The testimonials seem to be legit but more than anything I just need something to get me back on a workout schedule and I don't have a home gym. Doing this in the basement will be a good start to getting me back into the gym as well. I plan to eventually use both yoga and weight training once we get our newborn into a routine.

My wife plans to do this as well once she feels up to it. She's off for 10 more weeks and wants to workout when she's healed up.

I also went to the store last night and bought lots of healthy foods. I followed the DDP Yoga recipes in order to decide what to buy. Going to start eating better as well. Ever since I started my new job in October I stopped workout out and started eating bad foods and drinking pop. I've gained 10 pound since of bad weight and can tell I've lost muscle. Time to get that body back to where it was in July when I was in great shape.

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: 2017 Fitness Challenge

How's everybody doing a month in?

I've stopped lifting weights for the moment and am attempting to lean down. Picked back up the Insanity to every day and am also doing the Hasfit 30 Day Abs workout plan. The ab routines are short (between 6-10 minutes), but they kick your butt.

I'm doing a lot better eating healthier at home as we've been buying a bunch of fruits and vegetables to keep on hand at the house. My only caveat is eating my vegetables with dip and the occasional cheat meal, but I am noticing progress so that's the important thing right now.

[Blzer]

Re: 2017 Fitness Challenge

Well, I'm back at 50 push-ups again...

I tried to cheat the first couple of weeks for the "100 push-up challenge" as they said I could try, but I couldn't account for the amount of fatigue that kicks in trying to do push-ups in a short amount of time after having already done some, so I reset back to Week 1 again. Hopefully, given that my last set is an exhaustion set, this will help when it comes to getting back to Week 3 and it feels a little more on my level that I'm doing the sets I'm going to try to do.

Do I expect to actually get this all in 6-7 weeks? No, not really. I expect to repeat certain weeks quite a few times. At least they're giving me a nice set to grow into and decent rest periods.

[bad_philanthropy]

Re: 2017 Fitness Challenge

I've kept the 45 lbs off for two years now. I've gone from struggling with running a mile to doing a marathon twice a month, and run a range of about 75-100k/week. I'm also still increasing the weight and quantity in my lifting program.

I did struggle for a stretch with overall performance in both routines when I was trying to confine my diet to a calorie range sufficient for my level of exertion. Had some really brutal runs and workouts that were suffering grinds when I wasn't overeating.

I mentioned it to my doctor and we did some tracking and a few rounds of blood work, and it turned out I had a pretty bad iron deficiency. Supplementing that now and it's like night and day. I can eat normally and maintain my performance.

[boxboy99]

Re: 2017 Fitness Challenge

Down from 206 on Jan 1 to 193. Still running Texas Method and added and accessory day. I'm cranky from cutting weight. Actually took a half day off of work yesterday because my teleconference meetings were annoying me but I suspect I was really annoyed by a lack of carbs.


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[cima]

Re: 2017 Fitness Challenge

Thought some of you might get a kick out of this. I've gained over 100 lbs in the last 10 years. In February 2007 I weighed somewhere around 160 lbs and I kept starving myself, hoping I'd get a visible six-pack, lol. Obviously this is before I knew anything about fitness/nutrition. I'm about 251 lbs today, I weighed 261-265 lbs when I turned 30 two months ago. Anyway, here's the pic:

[boxboy99]

Re: 2017 Fitness Challenge

Thought some of you might get a kick out of this. I've gained over 100 lbs in the last 10 years. In February 2007 I weighed somewhere around 160 lbs and I kept starving myself, hoping I'd get a visible six-pack, lol. Obviously this is before I knew anything about fitness/nutrition. I'm about 251 lbs today, I weighed 261-265 lbs when I turned 30 two months ago. Anyway, here's the pic:

Wow, hardly look like the same person. Nice work, what kind of program do you run?


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[cima]

Re: 2017 Fitness Challenge

Wow, hardly look like the same person. Nice work, what kind of program do you run?


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It's the beard! The hair moved from my head to my face, lol.

I've mainly been doing a powerbuilding, which is basically a powerlifting/bodybuilding hybrid. I lift heavy often with my major lifts (squat, bench, deadlift) for reps usually no higher than 6 but then on things like incline bench, pullups, leg press, I do relatively heavy weight but in the higher 8-12 rep range. Since 2008, I've been on the program of hitting every major muscle group 2x/week. So I'd have a chest/shoulders/tris day, then a back/bis day, then leg day and then repeat, take the 7th day off for the most part.

However now that I'm opening my own business and it's starting to occupy more and more of my time, I'm condensing my upper body split into one day and will keep leg day, still doing both 2x/week. I'm also about a month into doing DDP Yoga which has done absolute wonders for my posture and flexibility.

[boxboy99]

Re: 2017 Fitness Challenge

It's the beard! The hair moved from my head to my face, lol.



I've mainly been doing a powerbuilding, which is basically a powerlifting/bodybuilding hybrid. I lift heavy often with my major lifts (squat, bench, deadlift) for reps usually no higher than 6 but then on things like incline bench, pullups, leg press, I do relatively heavy weight but in the higher 8-12 rep range. Since 2008, I've been on the program of hitting every major muscle group 2x/week. So I'd have a chest/shoulders/tris day, then a back/bis day, then leg day and then repeat, take the 7th day off for the most part.



However now that I'm opening my own business and it's starting to occupy more and more of my time, I'm condensing my upper body split into one day and will keep leg day, still doing both 2x/week. I'm also about a month into doing DDP Yoga which has done absolute wonders for my posture and flexibility.

Awesome, thanks for the info! I've only a bit more than a year and a half into lifting consistently. StrongLifts>Mad Cow>Texas Method. At a bit of a stall now where I feel like I need to cut, but I'm only half in on the cut which isn't helping.

Good luck on the business. I just got into Gary Vee in the last couple of weeks. Worth a look if you need some motivation. Starting to work on a small side hustle myself after watching the Gary Vee videos.


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[cima]

Re: 2017 Fitness Challenge

Awesome, thanks for the info! I've only a bit more than a year and a half into lifting consistently. StrongLifts>Mad Cow>Texas Method. At a bit of a stall now where I feel like I need to cut, but I'm only half in on the cut which isn't helping.

Good luck on the business. I just got into Gary Vee in the last couple of weeks. Worth a look if you need some motivation. Starting to work on a small side hustle myself after watching the Gary Vee videos.


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Yeah man, knowing when to start/stop bulking/cutting has been a constant struggle. I've cut the wrong way so many times and ended up losing more muscle than I wanted, which sucks because building muscle is hard but losing it is very easy, just like getting fat is easy but losing fat is hard. I'm dropping weight much slower now, like I've only dropped 10 lbs in about 1.5 months but it's only fat coming off now. My metabolism has definitely slowed down now that I'm 30 so it's more of a struggle to lose the weight, but it just makes it that much more rewarding when I do.

[boxboy99]

Re: 2017 Fitness Challenge

I hear that, I'm 36 and late to the game. Cutting isn't so easy anymore. I tend to cut solid for a month and then fly off the rails food wise.

I like you specifically said powerlifting/body building. The programs I've ran are geared more toward power and I hard look like I lift now. I still want to primarily power lift but want to throw in a touch of body building for a little aesthetics so I just threw a accessory day into my program recently.


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[FlyingFinn]

Re: 2017 Fitness Challenge

I think that is the biggest misconception in bodybuilding. You have to bulk and then cut. It is much better to just stay lean and add as much lean muscle each year as you can rather than to yo-yo your weight (which to be honest isn't very healthy).

[Blzer]

Re: 2017 Fitness Challenge

Wait, so what's the recommendation here? I've been trying to gain muscle while staying very thin (I'm currently under 150 lbs, actually).

Am I trying to be bone-skinny? No. I'm just not adding any unnecessary weight right now while I'm doing non-cardio workouts.

So is it recommended to add weight prior to this workout stuff, or should I stay pretty light if I can help it?

[KG]

Re: 2017 Fitness Challenge

bloodshot are seared into my mind.[/B][/QUOTE]

Thought some of you might get a kick out of this. I've gained over 100 lbs in the last 10 years. In February 2007 I weighed somewhere around 160 lbs and I kept starving myself, hoping I'd get a visible six-pack, lol. Obviously this is before I knew anything about fitness/nutrition. I'm about 251 lbs today, I weighed 261-265 lbs when I turned 30 two months ago. Anyway, here's the pic:

What did all of that weight gain do to your tattoo?

I think that is the biggest misconception in bodybuilding. You have to bulk and then cut. It is much better to just stay lean and add as much lean muscle each year as you can rather than to yo-yo your weight (which to be honest isn't very healthy).

100% agree Flynn. The older you get the more weight you should keep off your joints IMO, especially if you're going to stay playing sports.

[cima]

Re: 2017 Fitness Challenge

Wait, so what's the recommendation here? I've been trying to gain muscle while staying very thin (I'm currently under 150 lbs, actually).

Am I trying to be bone-skinny? No. I'm just not adding any unnecessary weight right now while I'm doing non-cardio workouts.

So is it recommended to add weight prior to this workout stuff, or should I stay pretty light if I can help it?

At the end of the day to grow, the formula is simple: you have to eat more food (and more protein specifically) and you need to have challenging workouts that are relatively heavy (but not necessarily maximum heavy). Genetics determine the rest. If you're naturally skinny, then unfortunately you're just going to have a tougher time gaining size. Getting older helps with that too, especially once you're into your 30s. I have a friend who's 6'0" and struggled to get above 190 lbs for the longest time in his mid-late 20s. Then late 20s-early 30s (he's 33 or 34 now, can't remember) he was able to get over 200 and eventually as high as 220 naturally.

I was pretty similar. I had the hardest time getting to 200 lbs when I was 20-21 years old, was stuck in the 190s. I took some pro-hormones (which are now illegal) and it got me over the 200 hump. Then eventually every 10 lbs became a hump. I got over all of them eventually all the way to 260 lbs but it just took me getting older. Now I'm 30 and gaining both fat/muscle is easier than before and losing the fat is much harder; the unfortunate downfall of not having the 20s metabolism anymore.