BG Fitness Fanatics II: We Work Out

[Celeras]

That, and I don't really give two craps about the number of steps I take (glorified pedometer nothx). But, heart rate and calorie estimations are of interest.

Does it seem to work well/give accurate results? Any other good benefits you've found? Better to wait a little longer for the tech to get better?

I don't think optical HR monitors will be improving anytime soon. They are what they are, good enough for cardio but nowhere near a strap if you're flailing around with weights. I like being able to check 24/7 though and think it has its merits regardless.

I'll be able to speak about estimated calories better in a few weeks, but I'm currently giving it a whirl. I'd be eating my maintenance or a little under for summer anyway, so I'm using my Fitbit to shape my diet just to see what happens.

Spoiler: show

I'm tiny but some of those 1800 days seem a little low, haven't lost any weight yet though so we'll see. So far it seems pretty close to what I'd be aiming for without any guidance, had to fit in an extra bar or w/e on geocaching days though (like Sunday).

[Boyiee]

Post time.

June 7th. Currently 212lbs.

Getting married in almost 12 months on the dot. Time for change. A past surgery and chicken parm subs have had their toll.

I'm not a stranger to lifting, was doing starting strength program but switched over to stronglifts 5x5 today. I am a fan of rows and not of power cleans, but I'm still looking to get a tower for dips and chinups. I'd do ice cream fitness but I am turning my garage into a home gym and am lacking some equipment for it. When I can, I'll move to that. I need cables mainly.

I'm going to be cutting to drop weight but lifting as well to increase strength. I'd love to get down to 180. Doing a month of advocare shakes to get myself to ease in to portioning again, I work 12s and sometimes diet is difficult so I have to jump start it.

In March I was up to 3x5 squats at 250 and deadlift 1x5 250. I was doing this with relative ease and I would have loved to have found out my deadlift max but wasn't able to, I feel 300+ wouldn't have been a problem.

I'll be popping in here for a mix of motivation and suggestions since currently I only have my own willpower and I could use a bit more. I typically don't mention to anyone my actual weight so we already started off strong.

My current setup is a bench and Olympic set of 300lbs, I'm looking to add maybe resistance bands or something so I can do some of the exercises in ICF 5X5 as well as a Power tower and rack. If you have any other suggestions to help change my garage into a gym I'll gladly accept them. Thanks.

[Cream Soda]

Today marks day 21 of double Fossil (obstacle course). Have gone at least twice a day for 3 weeks now (well after I complete tonight's run, but I'm about to head that way now). Have been consuming 1200-1500 cals the last 3 weeks (with a couple of cheat days in there), and still lifting 4-5 days a week. Considering the calorie range and double cardio every day, I've only lost 1 rep on squats (aka I'm probably maintaining since this is less weight than the last time I ran this program (it rests every 5 weeks)) and 1 rep on bench that I missed as well.

Anime convention is on Thursday, so that gives me mon-wed for three more double fossils to try to lean out as much as I can before the con. That will make 22 days of double fossil, and the two days that I did triples will equal 50 runs in 24 days.

Going to do low carbs the rest of the days till the con so let's hope I can survive 3 more days (then the 25 mile bike ride to the con). Basically I'm going to do 1lb ground turkey, 4 hard boiled eggs, 1 protein bar (carb source lol) for food mon-wed.

Hate grinding this weight loss at the last minute lol should have given myself 8 weeks or a diet like I had intended.


Overworked the shit out of my lats and put them out of commission. 8 pull up stations (4 per lap) at fossil, twice a day and doing weighted pull ups twice a week and my lats said fuck you. The last week or so I've had to do a modified version of fossil, adding stations for other body parts to compensate for not being able to do pull ups but still having to put in the same effort to complete the workouts (instead of just skipping pull ups and doing a weaker version of Fossil)

[RKenshin]

Three years of Tough Mudder!

Spoiler: show

http://imageshack.com/a/img540/5542/kqPFSd.jpg

This round wasn't as fun as the previous two years though... not organized as well. A lot of people crowded into narrow paths and quite a few of the obstacles had 15-30+ minute wait times, which totally knocks down the momentum/excitement. I also joined up with a pretty big team (~24 people), so it took a while to get everyone through each obstacle (plus the group only moved as fast as the slowest).

It actually took 6.5h to complete the course this round vs 3.5h my first time with a group of four and ~1.5h my second time running solo. Though, can't really compare the times year-to-year because the courses change pretty drastically. My 1.5h run took place on a golf course, so it was far easier compared to the first and third (which took place on ski mountains). I also spent a solid ~1-2 hours helping people at Everest 2.0 this year (with a bunch of kicks in the face and other places to show for it).

They made most of the obstacles a little more difficult/challenging though, and this course was probably the toughest overall; 95% of the race was either running uphill or downhill, and mostly across the steepest slopes.

Still a fun time overall, already picked up a discounted ticket for next year too.

I might try The Beast this August, as it supposedly makes even the Tough Mudder look easy/casual.

[Cream Soda]

Kenshin always tearing shit up. Good stuff man.

Got 2 more days of double fossil to grind out and I'm good for Metrocon

[Botosi]

I've never really had a problem with wait times on obstacles during spartan races. Ive done four now (3 sprints and 1 super) and have never had to wait longer than 1 minute for an obstacle. Some of the paths can be narrow but people are so spread apart that it doesnt really affect you. I'm gonna end up doing a beast this year.

CS I cant imagine running on that little amount of calories man. Especially for your size that cant feel energizing. Why are you trying to lose weight? Last I saw you were still in great shape.

Update on me:
Was working out every single day 1-2 hours a day for 2 months. My arms definitely got bigger and my strength improved but I'm still having an extremely hard time gaining. I did a Spartan Race a week ago and fucked up my hand (can relate to all you people with sports injuries....its so fucking frustrating) so I couldnt really work out as much as I wanted to this past week but I'm planning to get back onto my 7 days a week of training.

My physical effort and motivation is definitely 100% there, but my weakness comes in my eating habits. I have a hard time eating before 2pm (I wake up around 10-11am) and somedays my appetite is huge and somedays I barely eat. I bought a mass gainer 4 days ago but I'm already finding myself pushing it away,

On the plus I'm stronger than ever, getting bigger (although very slowly), and my form is improving. I have semi-poor flexibility and I sometimes wonder if its due to a lack of body fat on my body. I dont know how low mine is but I cant imagine I have....any. 5'11" 152 lbs around 5 days ago.

I used to weigh myself every day. Recently I was told it fucks with your mind to weigh yourself everyday so I'm going to try to not do it until the end of the month.

Pics:

Spoiler: show

[Milkster]

I've never really had a problem with wait times on obstacles during spartan races. Ive done four now (3 sprints and 1 super) and have never had to wait longer than 1 minute for an obstacle. Some of the paths can be narrow but people are so spread apart that it doesnt really affect you. I'm gonna end up doing a beast this year.

CS I cant imagine running on that little amount of calories man. Especially for your size that cant feel energizing. Why are you trying to lose weight? Last I saw you were still in great shape.

Update on me:
Was working out every single day 1-2 hours a day for 2 months. My arms definitely got bigger and my strength improved but I'm still having an extremely hard time gaining. I did a Spartan Race a week ago and fucked up my hand (can relate to all you people with sports injuries....its so fucking frustrating) so I couldnt really work out as much as I wanted to this past week but I'm planning to get back onto my 7 days a week of training.

My physical effort and motivation is definitely 100% there, but my weakness comes in my eating habits. I have a hard time eating before 2pm (I wake up around 10-11am) and somedays my appetite is huge and somedays I barely eat. I bought a mass gainer 4 days ago but I'm already finding myself pushing it away,

On the plus I'm stronger than ever, getting bigger (although very slowly), and my form is improving. I have semi-poor flexibility and I sometimes wonder if its due to a lack of body fat on my body. I dont know how low mine is but I cant imagine I have....any. 5'11" 152 lbs around 5 days ago.

I used to weigh myself every day. Recently I was told it fucks with your mind to weigh yourself everyday so I'm going to try to not do it until the end of the month.

Pics:

Spoiler: show

Eat and be less like a skeleton bby.

[Botosi]

It's easy to just say "eat"... :/ Eating for me is more of a chore than anything because I'm always trying to force myself to eat more. It's annoying how people love to eat and I end up hating it. I just either have no appetite at all or eat until I feel like I'm gonna get sick. Dont know how to break that plateau once you feel full.

[Cream Soda]

CS I cant imagine running on that little amount of calories man. Especially for your size that cant feel energizing. Why are you trying to lose weight? Last I saw you were still in great shape.

Going to an anime convention this weekend, and I'm going as super ripped chars, so I like to get as lean as I possibly can for them


Impressive man, you're looking great

[Botosi]

Going to an anime convention this weekend, and I'm going as super ripped chars, so I like to get as lean as I possibly can for them

Gotcha, you definitely gotta post pics from the convention. Youre definitely gonna be like the most in-shape person there lol. And thank you i appreciate it.

[Cream Soda]

Last convention there were 2 guys there that shit all over me in terms of size/physique

Then when I asked them how long they've been training for; half as long as I have

[Celeras]

I don't remember who said it back in the day, but it still cracks me up every time ruke pops in to post some pics lol

"That's exactly what I imagined he looked like after reading his LJ"

[RKenshin]

Not sure how to take that lol

@Botosi, in their defense that was the first time of the three I participated in where there were wait times. Give us an update on how The Beast goes, if you end up doing it!

As far as eating, it's usually easier to force down calories in liquid form if you're struggling with appetite. Adding things like peanut butter, milk, ice cream, oats, mass gainer, or whatever you choose to be your poison to protein shakes can make a pretty good difference by itself. A couple of those a day after your regular meals will make a difference over time.

I struggled quite a bit to put on weight for a while, as my metabolism completely works against me. I ended up eating like 4-5k+ calories a day for like ~6 months straight (~1-2k of it being through shakes) to get up to my heaviest at ~193lbs. It was pretty terrible/miserable, but since then I've managed to trim and maintain most of the muscle I gained during that time.

[Green]

im confused on what this is

As am I, friend. As am I.

[Cream Soda]

Meh; 2 days out, didn't get as lean as I had wanted to.

Spoiler: show

[Green]

Nice shower curtain, but can a nigga see the poster? That looks like that hotness.
And damn son, you're plenty lean. Nobody's gonna notice the difference.

[Botosi]

Damn CS your back is ridiculous. And your nipples look fake, atleast on my phone...

[Deadgye]

The day you start lifting is the day you're forever tiny, because you always want more. I'm about to hit the 5 year mark and I feel like I could be doing a lot better than I am. I'm not satisfied at all. I'm satisfied with the effort that I put in and that in the fact I believe it will get me to where I want to be someday, but I'm not currently there.

Hell, last anime convention I went to, there were a group of guys doing a push up contest so I jumped in. I got third (out of 7 or 8) and the two guys who beat me not only did so by a landslide, but they were noticeably larger mass wise than me and also had less body fat. They made me look like shit. To rub more salt in the wound, I asked how long they had been training and they said "for a little over 2 years"

The trick is that they're working out until their waifu notices them.

I was also hoping for some feedback on getting started. This looked interesting enough and I was wondering if it sounded like a good thing to follow: http://newbie-fitness.blogspot.com/2...-strength.html For choosing what weight amount to use, I should pick something where it's hard for me to do a set right? Also I could fit this in between a couch-to-5k plan without worrying about burning out, right?

[Petitssk]

Meh; 2 days out, didn't get as lean as I had wanted to.

Spoiler: show

I'm not an expert, but that looks sufficiently lean to me.
Your back looks like you're about to pull a Tenshinhan and grow another two arms, actually; they're even flexing their muscles already.

Edit: Finally pushed my time for 6 km (+/- 100m) below 26 minutes. Finished at 25:50, was happy to see that 25. Didn't feel quite as good as usual at first, but consequently speeding up when I slowed down did the trick. Guess I'll need to improve my average speed to finally get below 25.

[Vandalhart]

I haven't been getting to the gym yet, but I've been tracking my calories and doing my 2 walks a day unless it's not raining.
I'm consistently coming in 300-500 calories below my daily limit so I'm at least able to do that for now. I'll start reading further into the strength routines and get that started here at some point.