Exercise to get into it : An Unexpected Journey

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+/-: -5.7 lbs

Been better about logging everything and picked up more on the lifting. One of my fears with weight loss has always been overdoing cardio and losing muscle. I'm trying to build my overall strength at the same time as I work to lose the fat. An interesting thing I've been noticing this week is that I'm not hungry in the evening and often just skip dinner because I don't need it. Didn't expect that.

Keeping the same goals as last week.

Goals:
Log food and exercise in MFP
No more regular soda
Walking/jogging 3 times a week
 
Thekeegstor, What are good exercises for a month if I'm trying to increase my maximum reps and running endurance?

That all depends on from where you are starting. Also what exercise are you trying to increase your reps of?

I generally recommend people start with some kind of evaluation. If you don't know where to start, try like 2 minutes of pushups, 2 minutes of sit-ups and a 2 mile run. If those numbers seem extreme, go to 1 minute and 1 mile.

Let me know a little more about where you are starting and we can move forward from there.
 
Sorry, I was a little vague. I have an event in a month and am trying to increase my maximum reps in pushups, situps, bench, cut my run-time down.

What I've been doing is a three minute exercise doing one-third my current max every minute as quickly as I can, then resting the rest of the minute. For the run time I'm working on sprints.

And as follow-up for everyone else (after WAY too long, sorry about that) I'm currently sitting at roughly 230 lbs and will call this my new starting point.
 
Sorry, I was a little vague. I have an event in a month and am trying to increase my maximum reps in pushups, situps, bench, cut my run-time down.

What I've been doing is a three minute exercise doing one-third my current max every minute as quickly as I can, then resting the rest of the minute. For the run time I'm working on sprints.

And as follow-up for everyone else (after WAY too long, sorry about that) I'm currently sitting at roughly 230 lbs and will call this my new starting point.
Gotcha. Sounds like an interesting event. It sounds like what you are doing is good. If your not improving like you want to, you can increase to 5 minutes still with the same number of reps that way you are totalling above your current max.

The other option is doing some tobatta exercises and not worrying so much about the total reps and more about pushing as hard as you can for the time. Traditionally, tobatta is 20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest. I like to do tobatta as 30 seconds of work and 20 seconds of rest. It just works better for me. Do that for five minutes with just pushups, take a 2-3 minute break and then do the same for 5 minutes of situps.

It's hard to do stuff like that for benching. Presumably the competition is how many reps of a certain weight. If so, you can train by just doing max sets of the weight or by using drop sets. I can only recommend drop sets of you have a spotter, but if you do then they can be great.

Basically put weight on the bar and do 10 reps, then (with as little rest as possible) drop about 20% of the weight and do 10 more reps. Drop another 20% and do a final set. Rest for 2-3 minutes, reset, and do it again. You should reach failure on either round 2 or 3 of the first set.

Example: put 3 10lb weights per side (total 105 lbs) each set drop 10 lbs per side (about 20% of total).
Your starting weight will be up to you. You could try the target weight of the competition but, depending on how many reps you can currently do of that, it might be too high for drop sets.
Drop sets require a little bit of math but can be very effective at building endurance and teaching your muscles to push to and through exhaustion.

For running, I am a big believer in interval sprint training. Push hard for the sprinting and allow yourself to rest during the not sprinting. Do it for a certain amount of time or a certain distance whichever you prefer. I usually do it for 10 minutes as part of my warmups.

Hope this helps!
 
+/-: -6.1lbs

Sometimes it can be disheartening to think about I'm only down 6.1lbs since starting which is ~0.87lbs per week, but then I remember that I'm going for sustainable, and the things that I'm doing are habits I'm comfortable keeping in the long term.

One change in goals this week. What I have has been working pretty well for me.

Goals:
Log food and exercise in MFP
Close all 3 (stand, exercise, and activity) rings on at least 5 days
Walking/jogging 3 times a week
 
+/-: - 5 lbs

If I may, that event I was training for has come, and gone. I passed everything and it was the hardest thing I've ever done. Basically 9 hours of high intensity workout. I know I haven't been the best at updating around here, but I really appreciate the input I received from you guys.
 
If I may, that event I was training for has come, and gone. I passed everything and it was the hardest thing I've ever done.

Congrats on passing everything! It feels so rewarding to complete something that's the hardest thing you've done. Keep it up!

Haven't updated in awhile but here it goes.

-7.3lbs

With lots of stuff on my plate the past couple of weeks I didn't focus much on working out or eating particularly healthy the past couple of weeks. Ended up skipping or doing lighter than normal workouts and ate fast food on the road. Although it did help that I had a room with a kitchenette at c2e2 so I was able to plan ahead and take decent meals to avoid eating junk for every meal.

This week has been/is all about getting back into my routine. I also have <8 weeks until my goal to do a 5k. Still need to sign up for the 5k I want to do or pick a route to just do it, and am doing the Couch to 5k program in preparation.

Goals
Log food and exercise
Close all 3 rings on at least 5 days
Walk/jog 3-4 times a week
 
We gotta get this thread back up and active!

No change this week, still at -7.3lbs

No surprise there as last week was crazy prepping for the possibility (now reality) that my company would instigate a mandatory work from home policy. Ended up eating out a lot more and workouts were shorter than typical. Now that all of that is settled, and most of my time is spent at home, I actually have more time on my hands to cook and workout with no commute.

I'm also really glad that I've built up a fairly solid home gym over the past few years with all that's going on right now.

basement_1.jpg basement_2.jpg
 
Well, now that I have been put on furlough, my availability to exercise is limitless. I will be making a chart and a schedule for each day, going to include the wife and kids if they want, but I have a lot of cycling planes weather permitting. I don’t have access to a scale but I will be doing my progress by measurements. I will be out minimally for 2 weeks, maybe more depending on how things are going with a cure or vaccination. I want to get started this Monday....I have other things to make schedules for first, kids wife, house....I’m last on the list.
 
+-: -9.9 lbs

Last week was getting my schedule sorted out in terms of how I'll work from home. Oddly enough I was already scheduled to transfer to working from home all the time starting last week before all of this coronavirus stuff started, so the transition just came a week earlier than anticipated. At lunchtime most days I've been going outside to walk around the neighborhood or to a nearby park to walk around the track. Walking there + 2 laps of the track + back takes ~40min. And of course I've been using my basement gym to do any lifting. Most used items right now: barbell, half rack, and punching bag.
 
well its been a month since I was furloughed....in that time, i have managed to curb my appetite to the point where my wife has finaly made thre comment "You look thinner"....after waiting for several weeks for the weather to finally break, I got back on to the bike....20 ish miles a day for the last week and 1/2 and my legs feel like lead.....but I feel great. The best feeling is when I have to tighten the belt another notch.
 
well its been a month since I was furloughed....in that time, i have managed to curb my appetite to the point where my wife has finaly made thre comment "You look thinner"....after waiting for several weeks for the weather to finally break, I got back on to the bike....20 ish miles a day for the last week and 1/2 and my legs feel like lead.....but I feel great. The best feeling is when I have to tighten the belt another notch.

Woot woot! That's awesome, man! Congrats!
 
That's awesome dirt!



No scale update for myself.I've definitely been stress eating lately and drinking more caffeine than I should... but I'm working on it. I'm probably back around 190 again :( though I have a strategy to get myself back into gear.

In other news, I've decided to train for a half ironman next year. I'm on my first week of training minus the swim to build.up the distance, endurance, and diet needed for it

I plan on training for the olympic distance triathlon first for August in Chicago if it even happens to develop a decent base and routine that can be cranked up to 11 in the winter and spring to get into 70.3 mile shape.

Right now, I need to focus on sleep and making the right choices when eating to help A with weight loss, B joints and C my bank account as I eat less junk.(I've had.mcdonalds twice i the last 2 days due to stress...)

Right now, I'm just going for time and completion in my training. I'm running 11+ min miles and biking 15 mph rides as my max speed.i know those times aren't great; however, I have over a year to get those down but the goal is completion not being competitive.

Hopefully I'm crazy enough to make it work!
 
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