2017 Fitness Challenge

[Blzer]

Re: 2017 Fitness Challenge

As part of my #breakfiveagain campaign for this summer, I set a 5:25 mile time today. Making a little progress along the way from last week's 5:34.

Per lap though, you see the slowdown occuring:

Lap 1 - 1:10
Lap 2 - 1:21
Lap 3 - 1:25
Lap 4 - 1:29

I need to build my endurance again so that my fourth lap is faster than my third lap, especially on the last straight at the end where I have to go into "sprint" mode. I wish I could get a ghost version of myself though like in racing games, because I run faster when I have something to compete against.

[NDAlum]

Re: 2017 Fitness Challenge

Good f'n lord man. That's damn booking it. You have that runners gene.

As for me...I'm sitting in that 217-220 range and slipping up a little. Today was a stupid cheat meal and I regret it but I'll get back on track tomorrow. Only 220 heading to bed so that's a positive. It wasn't overkill or anything but I should've worked out and got cardio in as I didn't do cardio yesterday.

I need to set another goal instead of going day by day. That 32 day goal was awesome. Maybe I'll try 10 day goals at a time and eat super clean and bust it in the gym.

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: 2017 Fitness Challenge

I checked my weight yesterday because I'm noticeably slimmer in my torso; hanging around 185 which is probably the lowest I've seen the scale in two years.

Major difference between this year and last year is I'm consuming a lot less alcohol/mixed drinks.

[ubernoob]

Re: 2017 Fitness Challenge

Another Week, more grinding.

Hope all y'alls goals are going well.

I took a picture to compare, and my neck is slowly disappearing. Good times.

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: 2017 Fitness Challenge

So I was thinking the other night after I weighed myself and while the lower number is great that's not my true Why.

My goal is get rid of this flab on my torso that's been with me since I was a kid. My stomach is noticeably flat (perhaps not on holidays), but my chest still needs grinding down.

Aside from that I actually enjoy it. The grinding. The small battles over motivation and overcoming the disinterest and pushing through those walls. Coming back after a day or two off and hitting things even harder than normal is great, too. Its a nice way to mark progress for me.

What is everybody else's Why?

[ubernoob]

Re: 2017 Fitness Challenge

So I was thinking the other night after I weighed myself and while the lower number is great that's not my true Why.

My goal is get rid of this flab on my torso that's been with me since I was a kid. My stomach is noticeably flat (perhaps not on holidays), but my chest still needs grinding down.

Aside from that I actually enjoy it. The grinding. The small battles over motivation and overcoming the disinterest and pushing through those walls. Coming back after a day or two off and hitting things even harder than normal is great, too. Its a nice way to mark progress for me.

What is everybody else's Why?

My why...

Most people here don't know, but I'm on 90% VA disability. I tore my shoulder up real bad a couple times and needed 2 separate surgeries on it and my arm/shoulder is ****ed.

When I was in the Marines, I was a gym rat before the injuries. After the surgeries I lost a ton of muscle and strength (obviously.) I was sick of feeling sorry for myself and decided to prove again that I could. Ain't no feeling like lifting again. Obviously my numbers suck because it's been 6-8 years away from the gym, but I'm slowly getting size back. I'm up like 13-14 pounds (barring water weight fluctuations) in the past 2 months, and just feel better. I still struggle, but nothing fun is ever easy.

I went from 180-185ish (at 6ft) to 150. I was just a shell of myself really. Slowly getting back to where I was size wise, the strength is slowly coming along too. I rack pulled 225 the other day and squat 185, which is a far cry from where I was long ago but extremely good for where I was 3 months ago.

[NDAlum]

Re: 2017 Fitness Challenge

Man I hear you on the shoulder surgery. I had a full labrum tear and my ROM is still pretty poor 3 years after the surgery. I can't even squat with a barbell due to pain. Also my left arm lags behind in size. Thanks to pitching my entire life + the shoulder surgery I have a pretty unsymmetrical physique now. It's painfully obvious that my left arm is smaller when I lift and catch a glimpse in the mirror.

Kudos to you for getting back into it. I don't think you can understand shoulder issues until you've had them. Mine was terrible and probably pales in comparison to yours.

I lift/workout because it makes me feel better about myself in all aspects of life.

[ubernoob]

Re: 2017 Fitness Challenge

Man I hear you on the shoulder surgery. I had a full labrum tear and my ROM is still pretty poor 3 years after the surgery. I can't even squat with a barbell due to pain. Also my left arm lags behind in size. Thanks to pitching my entire life + the shoulder surgery I have a pretty unsymmetrical physique now. It's painfully obvious that my left arm is smaller when I lift and catch a glimpse in the mirror.

Kudos to you for getting back into it. I don't think you can understand shoulder issues until you've had them. Mine was terrible and probably pales in comparison to yours.

I lift/workout because it makes me feel better about myself in all aspects of life.

Yeah, my first one wasn't as bad (just run-of-the-mill rotator cuff tear from the wear and tear of baseball for 18+ years) but the second one was caused by trauma during training. Torn rotator cuff, separated shoulder, torn labrum and the muscles around it ****ed up.

Any shoulder surgery sucks from what I've found. I can't comfortably do squats like I used to, but once I get into position it's good for the most part. Just real, real tight.

[Blzer]

Re: 2017 Fitness Challenge

Weekly mile time - 5:21

This is gonna be tougher than I thought.

#breakfiveagain

[ubernoob]

Re: 2017 Fitness Challenge

Weekly mile time - 5:21

This is gonna be tougher than I thought.

#breakfiveagain

Are you just running or are you doing actual work to drop time off like interval training?

[Blzer]

Re: 2017 Fitness Challenge

Are you just running or are you doing actual work to drop time off like interval training?

Just running. I think it's a matter of "getting in shape again," and running should help me do that.

3 laps Monday
2 laps Tuesday
4 laps Wednesday (mile)
2 laps Thursday
20 minute run Friday

Last Friday I did exactly three miles in that 20-minute run.

This is just what I used to do in P.E. Perhaps I'm stubborn about it, but I figure if it worked then, perhaps it will work again now.

While the goal is to break five minutes, running is the ultimate "need-to-do" regardless. I'm trying to get cardio back into my life, so even if I don't break that time again, I'm still doing what I need to do. Hopefully this will get me back into shape and set my head straight again.

[ubernoob]

Re: 2017 Fitness Challenge

It'd probably be better (and healthier in the long run) to break it up.

So like...

Monday - Sprint straights and walk the curves. Do this for like 4 laps.
Tuesday - Bike (or swim)
Wednesday - Interval training again (or if Monday kills you, just do regular running here.)
Thursday - Bike/Swim again
Friday - Run the mile

Then if you wanna do something on Saturday, go for a 20-30 minute leisurely run. If not, enjoy the weekend.

Obviously on Tuesday/Thursday you could replace the bike/swim with jogging, but breaking up the anaerobic days (M/W) with something other than running is good.

Basically what M/W will do over time is increase the ability your body has over time to consume oxygen, so you will get tired slower at a faster pace.

Think of it like lifting. Say I bench press 45 pounds 30 times. That's 1350 pounds lifted. Same amount of weight as benching 90 pounds 15 times, 135 pounds 10 times, or 270 pounds 5 times. If I could do any of those, I would choose to lift 270 pounds 5 times because it taxes your muscles more and will build strength way better than the others. Same goes for running.

You basically want to take both kinds of workouts (anaerobic [M/W interval training]) and aerobic (T/Th/F/Sat if done) and become a healthy fitness running machine. Or not.

[Blzer]

Re: 2017 Fitness Challenge

I gotcha. I unfortunately don't own a bike or training bike, nor do I have a gym membership anymore. My head isn't ready for swimming. I was thinking of doing some straights and curves on Fridays.

The only thing I can say that I'm doing for myself is I'm just trying to improve everything every time. My times are improving each time (like my two-lap times and such).

Again, so far just trying to do what I did in high school. I definitely feel there are better ways to work this better to improve them. I'm just glad I'm getting out there and running again.

[Blzer]

Re: 2017 Fitness Challenge

So I'll probably end up doing something like that for the two weeks when I'm in Reno and Riverside for softball tournaments at the end of July/beginning of August. At least, I'll look to use the treadmill and exercise bike, and do some different things there.

That being said, today I stuck with my normal routine, and finished three miles in 19:34. I was actually too burned to run out the last 26 seconds, so I walked about half-mile afterward, then conversed with some HS girls training for the upcoming school year and I said I'd do a 400m with them (at their pace, though). Although all of that makeup work still doesn't seem (for me) to match the twenty minutes that I set out to run, I'm hoping to at least keep that same pace next week, meanwhile actually finishing out all twenty minutes.

Once I got around Lap #7 though, I was saying, "There is no way I'm going to finish." I can't believe that I did, but lordy it was not easy at all. My former self still kicks my arse. I hope to get back there someday, and what ubernoob is suggesting is probably going to help me get there. My knee was giving out as well, so I'll probably use that bike for good measure to keep the weight off of it more often.

Here's how I'm tracking my progress so far:




Thankfully, so far all I'm seeing is progress. What I'll agree with you on though is I have to sort out what I used to be able to do... make my fourth lap my second fastest lap of the mile. Currently I am unable to do that. Building endurance for that will certainly help.

[ubernoob]

Re: 2017 Fitness Challenge

Knee issues (and, granted, the fact that running is the worst thing in the world to me) is why I stopped running.

I went from like a 10 minute mile (I was all sprints in high school and only ran the mile when forced to for PE) to a 16:30 3-mile in the military. I did far too much running though.

Now I'd be happy if I could get a 16:30 1-mile time, haha. Putting in any work is the important part though. The only part that can be bad about tracking like that is if you see a dip. Those happen for everyone and if you can do it without getting discouraged, then it's a great resource/tool to track.