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State your weekly exercise goals. If you have any kind of achievement goal, and care to share, please include that too.
I'm committing to four days a week. My long term goal is to get down to 10% body fat. I'm at about 14.5% now, and I am hoping to shave off 2% points by the end of this round.
From the previous thread we already have:
littleman
gm66
Rupert
yeah count me in too, still hitting 5/5 x gym every week so far.
I'm actually having trouble with a goal. I used to use my weight, but it's no longer good as I'm in better shape than when I was below 200#, and I've been around 205 for a while and improving in health and fitness.
What tool do you use to measure body fat, maybe I could do that?
I am using one of those electric current gages where you hold the device with your arms out. It measures the current, does some math with your weight and hight and comes up with a number for your body fat. It isn't as accurate as getting yourself weighed under water or getting what they call as dexa scan, but it tends to be consistent in what it reads out for an individual and can be used to measure progress.
The one I am using is an Omron HBF-306C, costs about $30.
Just done my first exercise in a L O N G time - sweating like a pig.
Ten minutes of stretching, 20 minutes of bodyweight exercise then ten minutes of stretching.
I'm so unfit and i feel like a baby doing 5 reps of this and ten reps of that but i think i should be careful to begin with.
I bet i still feel stiff tomorrow even though it's light exercise!
Cheers,
Gary.
Congrats Garry! So, how many workouts are you committing to each week?
Either 5 or 3, depending how i feel tomorrow morning!
I've stopped drinking for the moment too, as it would weaken my resolve against the tobaccco.
So now i just have the heroin and the meths to liven up lunchtimes, oh well ;+}
Committing to 5 since done two in a row with no major aches.
Haven't smoked or drank since Thursday night, feels nice to be breathnig more clearly already, not that i was majorly congested before.
Big test this Saturday, mates birthday.
I WILL PASS !
Did 4/5 this first week.
I failed yesterday because i got an enquiry at 5:30 and was being rushed out of the door (i work from home) by the gf at 6.
Found it harder going on Wednesday then Thursday was ok.
Still haven't smoked or drank, i feel that i've finally won the battle against tobacco, good old ecigs, bloody fantastic things.
I jsut hope they don't find out down the line that the e-liquid causes you to grow an extra head or something!
Big test tonight, friends 44th birthday, all the lads out drinking,smoking.
Passed a small test last night with the gf, her parents and he parents friends. Friday night fish and chips and they were all boozing.
I drank one and a half bottles of dry ginger ale (coz you feel like your having a scotch and dry) and was fine.
Really glad i joined this, i reckon i'm gonna pull it off so thanks th3core :)
Hey, great job! Just so you know, we do our week Monday through Sunday, this way people could squeeze in a workout or two over the weekend. That's actually how I do it. I usually do two during the work week and two on the weekends.
There is an old and long thread that gives you some background of some of our fitness journeys:
http://th3core.com/talk/water-coolerextra/the-less-is-more-thread/
6/5
5 x gym
1 x dirt biking today and I am flat exhausted
I think it's safe to say I won't be getting any kind of exercise session in tomorrow.
Well done Gary :) you wont regret it.
I had a Drastic week last week, Awesome.
monoskiing lessons twice a day, tennis everyday, sailing every day, swimming... phew!
Back to work, so slowing down. Last week i will cout as 7/5 :)
That's a good goal the body fat one.. something different. I was about 20% last time I looked, Littleman, you are starting Strong from my angle!
week 1 - 4/4
Looks like a very good week everybody!
Re:body-fat. I thought it was a good measure for me because I don't really want to get any lighter, but I'd like to get a little more leaner and muscular. I'm starting to pull back my carbs a bit more again.
re: body fat, mine is all beer.
used to be 10.5 stone now 12.3 (was 12.8 when i started this).
Was hard tonight, didn't do it Monday or Tuesday, won't skip again since it makes it harder.
Brilliant book for bodyweight exercises :
http://www.amazon.co.uk/You-Are-Your-Own-Gym/dp/0345528581/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1414605352&sr=8-1&keywords=you+are+your+own+gym
I'm following this routine (after stretching, then stretch again afterward) :
BACKWARD LUNGEx10
FORWARD LUNGEx10
SQUATSx20
SWIMMERSx20
SITUPSx20
LEG RAISESx10
KNEE RAISESx10
RUSSIAN TWISTx10
PUSHUPSx10 (don't laugh, they're proper, nose to the ground for 2 secs pressups!)
CHINUPSx5 (10 secs rest in between each one)
DIPSx20
ROWINGx20
Also got a pair of dumbells (30kg total weight) for when the above regimen is easy.
That looks like a good bodyweight routine. I've also read good things about Convict Conditioning, an ebook with progressive bodyweight routines.
I use to be about 19.5 stones, I got down to 12.2. Now I'm sitting at about 13. I've been trying to add more muscle over the last year. Now I'm concentrating on recomposition.
'Convict Conditioning', lol, sounds tuff!
You've done great to go from 19.5 down to 12.2, that's dedication.
I'm loving the little high i feel afterward as well as just the general expansion you feel in the muscles.
Cheers,
Gary.
I'll just throw this in here:
http://abc13.com/automotive/overweight-crash-test-dummies-being-developed-in-response-to-us-obesity-trends/371823/
QuoteObese people are 78 percent more likely to die in a crash,
One of our delivery drivers died that way.. crushed against the steering wheel poor Chap.
A good motivator to keep exercising..... works for me anyway.
4/5 this week.
3/5 all gym
Minor strain to neck/back muscle on wed. It was much better thurs but my knee hasn't been right since a full day vball tourney. Decided to take 2 days off for 4 days of recovery.
I may do this again at end of each month. 5-6 days straight takes its toll.
Racketball, 3 runs.... thats it.
4/5
week 2 - 4/4
Did a bunch of moderate physical stuff this weekend too, like cleaning the garage. This is a good thing because we went to a cousin's house for dinner last night who is a chef and she ended up serving us chicken mole and chocolate mousse for dessert.
BTW, if anybody is interested in my progress, so far I've dropped two pounds, but my body fat percentage has not changed. I'm hoping that the ratio between lean mass and fat gets better as my glycogen storage goes down. The meal above was way off my diet, but the rest of the week was really on target. I'm eating high protein, high fiber, moderate fat and low carb -- basically lean meat, fat-free cottage cheese, eggs and a lot of vegetables.
I like the detail on the diet, i've been a fairly regular juice drinker since buying a masticating juicer.
Will post some stuff later, not exercising tonight, having day off as been doing gf's website all week and weekend and it launched today and she went out delivering her food and somehow i'm knackered ;+}
I had to put the ordering system together and she wanted custom sandwiches.
Could i find an ecommerce patform that let you put a limit on the number of fillings someone could have, a simple tick-box limit ?
No! Woocommerce had an addon for it, Gravity forms had an expensive addon for it but noone had a simple thing like that as part of their basic system.
I ended up using romancart.com for the shopping basket (£70 per year, her business ic COD so no transaction fees) and visual form builder pro for the custom order forms.
It's a bit naff but it works.
Sods law i've now found WP-Pizza, which is free but a £30 addon gives me all the funcionality i need ...
Week 3 4/4
Down another pound, but not really any closer to my goal of 12% body fat. It seems I am just shrinking and not leaning out, though I've noticed that my pants are feeling a little loser in the middle. I'm still adjusting my diet, upping the % of calories from fat and lowering my carbs intake.
week 3... 3/5 Run Squash, run.
Littleman.. its good and steady. keep going. Christmas is on its way :)
did 3/5
hoping to add swimming starting this week on Mon/Wed/Fri but not this Mon.
5/5 back in the gym.
working 7 days/week too..got down to 201 last week.
Good job guys. Collectively we did 15 out of 19 workouts, that's pretty good! Dras, you are like 6' 4"?
yep... my weight range is like 155-195 lol. I'd hate to see someone 6'4 and 155#.
Yeah, 155 seems ridiculous at your size, maybe for a very lanky teenager who hasn't filled out yet. I'm sure you are pretty lean at 201 with the muscle mass you've added from the exercising.
I haven't formally joined this round because I miss way too many workouts.
But I want to report that I passed a milestone: this morning my scales reported that I've lost seventy pounds now.
How much is that in stone?
5! Congrats!
buckworks, awesome, well done!
Its not about what you miss its what you do do ::) Come on.... join in.
set you target to what you think you can do (not like me at the moment, whose plans and reality are not meeting)
Good job Bucky!
Friday motivational question:
What keeps you at it?
For me, I feel like I have to keep improving or I'm going to revert right back to where I was before. I may still die before I am old, but at least it won't be from my making. It is also nice to look better and be healthier in my forties than in my twenties.
Quote from: littleman on November 10, 2014, 07:13:53 PM
Good job guys. Collectively we did 15 out of 19 workouts, that's pretty good! Dras, you are like 6' 4"?
Ye and i'm the crap guy that dropped the stats :(
This week i've done 3/5, 2 were normal home bodyweight and 1 was going to the over-50s session in Market Harborough.
I'm 49 next Feb and i look a few years younger (so i'm told, but they haven't seen me in the mornings), so lo and behold, i'm with my two mates, one of whom has had a vertebrae op from a car-crash 4 years ago, and the other who is an arsehole drink-driver and killed two trees recently and broke eight ribs and punctured a lung. Yes - the company i keep ... (i used to have intellectual friends, or at least, ones with half a brain).
So there we are, the two walking-wounded (both 44) and me, when this silver-haired lady swims toward me with a threatening breast-stroke and asks in my face "How old are you?".
I couldn't (totally) lie and said "I'm 49".
To which she replied "Well, they shouldn't have let you in!"
I then mumbled something about my painful left-shoulder, in reply to which she swam off with a Dickensian expression of disdain on her face.
After that was fun, though. We then went into the jacuzzi (spelling? drunk, can't be arsed spell-checking), and the steam room then the sauna.
The flipping steam-room! I haven't been in a steam room before and i'm from Glasgow, it WAS NOT PLEASANT! It hurt my nose to breathe !
It took me a few minutes to slow my mouth-breathing down enough for that not to scold!
The sauna was bliss after the steam room, and the jacuzzi was just sheer fun (bubbles on yer balls - lovely!).
The swimming was annoying though, simply because i had to slalom through people who weren't just over 50 but over 65 in msot cases so a little bit slow.
I won't go back again, because my two mates use it as an excuse to have a pub lunch, and we all know what that means after the fish and chips have been wolfed down.
I've been crap at the home bodyweight exercises, i'm fighting my tobacco addiction (about 30 rollups this month but i still ahte myelf), but i'm trying, and i guess that's the point!
"Friday motivational question:
What keeps you at it?"
What keeps me at it is stepping out of the shower every morning and having to witness the purulent flesh around my gut and chest - vanity, and health concerns of course.
Peace & Fitness,
G.
We should also ask "What keeps you from it?".
Bloody friends whon want you to drink every day (i'm not a down the pub every day man).
Bloody friends who cajole you into smoking !
Friends who want you to die early along with them!!!
As the old saying goes, "With friends like that .."
>Friends who want you to die early along with them!!!
You trying to improve yourself makes them feel bad about not doing it themselves. Eventually they will have to come to except it or you will have to get new friends. Oddly enough it goes both ways. Some people I know have started to take their health seriously after watching me keep at it for years. My dad is down like 50 pounds, he still has a long way to go, but he isn't living on the plus side of 300 anymore.
>What keeps you at it?
1) it's short, my actual workout is only 35 mins
2) I love the endorphin buzz.
3) I feel better overall plus much more agile/effective at volleyball and dirt biking
4) sometimes it keeps me sane. It's a great refresher when you've been slaving away at the desk.
5) how I look in the mirror immediately after a workout, is how I will look normally, if I keep it up for another 2/3 months (I dub this the hanz/franz effect)
I'm at the point now if I miss a workout I'd feel like I missed out on a positive aspect of my day, instead of feeling guilty.
---
gm66>"the jacuzzi was just sheer fun (bubbles on yer balls - lovely!)"
ok, I think we need a core quote of the week section. I vote gm for this week.
---
and 5/5 all gym this week.
Week 4 - 4/4
>I'm at the point now if I miss a workout I'd feel like I missed out on a positive aspect of my day
Me too. I really hate missing a workout.
As of yesterday I was down another pound and scraping 13% body fat. Workout wise I am still going four days a week but I am upping the amount of times I hit each body part each week. I had been training each part of my body once a week spread over four workouts, but now I am doing the entire body every two workout -- hitting everything twice a week. I am doing this as an attempt to hang on to as much muscle as possible while working on fat loss.
Good stuff guys.
I'm still battling a lower back issue and can't seem to break from it.
Tried the chiropractor with no solution at all.
Training with a cool and very good physiotherapist now and it helps, however some days the pain is just too nasty and I've go to reside on ibuprofen in a rather high dose. It gets me by, but not a long term solution. Everyone incl the doc thinks I just need to keep pushing training, eating right and it will get better.
I'm not so sure at the moment and fear an operation might be the way out. We'll see - I f-ing hate not being able to give it all I got in the gym and often come home with a dull feeling. Sucks.
Bummer raz, keep at it man.
Sorry Raz, how did you hurt your back?
3/5 last week including two swims so bda week for me.
Starting running tonight, plan to do M/W/F and bodyweight stuff T/T.
Can't wait to see how crap my lungs or calves are.
Running was harder than i thought, i only did 3/4 of a mile but still had to stop 3/4 of the way through.
Disappointed in lung capacity, but i've only stopped smoking for a month (5 weeks this Thursday).
Bloody legs are stiff this morning, hope i can do the bodyweights tonight.
>Sorry Raz, how did you hurt your back?
Been creaping up on my over the years. Docs says it's from sitting down for 35+ years not doing jack shit. "Your body is just not made to sit down for longer periods - accept it."
Might be from doing squats and deadlifts with somewhat poor form the last few years as well.
Good effort there Gary.
Raz, maybe consider doing exercises that don't upset your back? Things like resistance machines, bench press and such.
Rumbas, juice some turmeric, if it can repair damaged brain tissue it may do something for back muscles :
http://www.itv.com/news/update/2014-09-26/tumeric-link-to-brain-cell-repair/
But don't go having lots of curries ;+}
Buy the roots :
http://www.thai-food-online.co.uk/shopping/shopexd.asp?id=832&gclid=CICRnsWT1MECFXKWtAodpEYApA#.VGt0gsn-vo9
wash them (not scrub or peel) and then juice them (along with other good stuff) :
https://juicerecipes.com/recipes/turmeric-sunrise-98
Don't use a high-speed, centrifugal juicer, though, they spin so fast the friction causes heat wihch destroys 40% of the good stuff.
Get a slow, two-stage, masticating juicer. Can be got on fleabay for £60, i got the Von Shef one :
http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313.TR4.TRC2.A0.H0.Xmasticating+juicer&_nkw=masticating+juicer&_sacat=0
I'm going to switch to 3/5 sessions now since i'm doing the running in order to lost 2 stone before i start doing bodyweights again, i think i've been averaging 3 per wek anyway so ...
I missed week 4. I think it was:
Squash
Racketball
Tennis
Run
So 4/5
4/5
3 x running, 1 x bodyweights.
Running is killing me, even though i only do 0.83 miles (in ten minutes). Wish i'd never smoked!
I'm switching to indoors again until more fat is burned off!
Plan to do interval-training, 45 mins sessions, 5/5 from Monday.
Hey, nice work.
Week 5 - 4/4
I am continuing with my increased volume of wight training where I hit the entire body twice a week. I definitely feel more drained, but I am hoping my body responds well to the increased training. I did not lose any weight this week, but I didn't gain any either -- which is good because I had to go to a couple of social dinners. I hate being *that guy* at parties, you know the one asking what is in this dish or that dish, but I am. I usually stick to meats and veggies at these things, but people like to add sugar to their meat glazes, or salad dressing.
Great Start to the week:
Squash
Racketball
Tennis
night ride round Cannock.
all stopped on Wednesday.
So 4/5
3/5 all gym.
Wednesday night attended a tech networking event with free beer, so Thursday was out. Friday I said meh.
Week 6 - 4/4
No progress this week diet wise. I haven't blown it, but I'm not seeing any improvement. I'm hitting a bit of a psychological wall.
It will come back.
Squash, Racketball, tennis, run, 8 mile hike.
Yea! 5/5
Keep going LM :)
4/5 last week, 2 interval training 2 swimming.
>I'm hitting a bit of a psychological wall.
Either a cheat day or a week at maintenance my be worth a try?
3/5 holiday week excuse
2xgym
1xdirt biking (https://scontent-a-atl.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/t31.0-8/10697388_10203957042119839_4668316594319533966_o.jpg)
Funny enough, missed 2 workouts week prior, and 3 last week, plus blew the diet up, yet I still hit 199 lbs. and some change the day after dirt biking.
>cheat day
There is an incredible Indian restaurant I've been wanting to go to for several months now.
>199
Congrats Dras! You at your high school weight?
>high school weight?
Doubtful. I don't remember, but I was a string bean.
I hit 198 last time I got serious... "Less is More" thread. So almost at my best as an adult, easy to say. I can see at least 5 more lbs that need to come off, so targeting 195 right now, but I'd be ok with 200 if the fat I see is gone.
I would say this probably ain't gonna happen til after holidays but after last week I'm just going to keep plugging away and see.
I'm wondering if taking days off like this is helping.
Damn that fat! >:( Those last 5 lbs are tricky.
Sue (wife) does a fasting day each week, swears by it.
week 7 - 4/4
I am down another pound this week and I am starting to look leaner in the mirror. This week was definitely easier than the week before. I feel like the switch to working the entire body twice a week has helped my progress.
week 7
Racketball, squash, tennis, run.
sigh. still 4/5.
>I am starting to look leaner in the mirror
Ok, this might come off as a bit gay-ish, but where are the pics LM? ;-P
Rumbas... your not wrong :o
>where are the pics LM?
How about after I get into the 12% body fat range? I still have a point or so to go.
3/5 last week, all gym.
3/5 last week, intervals.
nothing so far this week but sat in a chair for 13 hours yesterday so does that count as endurance ?
looks like i'll be doing the same today !
Week 8 - 4/4
1/5 gym
New work schedule, going to downtown cowork early every morning, trying to figure out how to fit the gym in again.
I have been dreading your update Littleman.
down to 3/5. Thanks Drastic, that made me feel better .
2/4 :(
It is a hard time of year. All those food temptations around every corner doesn't help either.
I know, i can't believe the crap i've been eating that i wouldn't normally.
Week 9 - 4/4
Final week guys!
2/5 gym last week and promptly got the flu.
Did 0/5 last week, hate myself :(
Will probz do 0/5 this week, finding it hard to be healthy when those around me aren't, tho i should be strong in myself.
Godammit!
glad I am not the only one... 2/5
Hey its Christmas, who cares. with a bit of luck I will be skiing for a week soon, so I can make up then.
I agree that it is a very hard time of year for most of us to get things done, many people who are really into fitness just take a week or two off.
Anyway, here is a motivational link:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/12/141222165033.htm
Quote
After ruling out diet differences and changes in body size as possible causes, researchers have concluded that reductions in physical activity are the root cause of degradation in human bone strength across millennia. It is a trend that is reaching dangerous levels, they say, as people do less with their bodies today than ever before.
There is, in fact, no anatomical reason why a person born today could not achieve the bone strength of an orangutan or early human forager, say researchers; but even the most physically active people alive are unlikely to be loading bones with enough frequent and intense stress to allow for the increased bone strength seen in the 'peak point' of traditional hunter-gatherers and non-human primate bones.
Like it:
Quote"Sitting in a car or in front of a desk is not what we have evolved to do."
Lets Get out there doing :) (After Christmas)
Week 10 - 4/4
I stated my goal at the beginning of this round to get to 12% body fat. I didn't make it, I'm in the 13s right now, but I am down a point, so I'll take that as a semi-victory.
Congrats lm.
0/5 for me, had the flu for over a week. It's been a couple decades since I was that sick. I was going to hit the gym again today but not quite there yet.
Thanks Dras, sorry about the flu... I read somewhere that they completely missed the forecast with the flu shot this year and that many are getting the flu despite getting the injection.
0/5.
I wouldn't touch those flu shots with a barge pole.
Yeah, never had a flu shot before. I just almost never get sick.
Anyways, I'm going to wait until next week to get started again.
You guys up for another?
Yeah! Lets start it on Jan 5. You all could count this week as 'week 0' if you want. I have a suspicion that the participation rate will be quite poor if we start this week.
Sounds good to me, in for 5 again.
I'm in, plan to do better this time !