The Fitness Thread

[Soly]

If the 12 rep sets don't kill you, I find the taking the stairs afterwards usually does

[yugular]

Nice thread!

I started a blog with my wife and friend just about a month ago. We decided to attend a sprint triathlon in August 2014 and started training. I used to play football (the european football) quite a lot and was in good shape, but after we got three kids and life got busy I gained some weight and stopped moving. Now I am back on good track! The last few weeks I have done 1-2 spinnings, 90mins of football practice and some walking & swimming. Feels good! I am still unsure about the triathlon though... I hate running more than 100 meters at one time

[TheShop]

Best wishes to all of you trying to lose.

I went from 37% body fat at 270 lbs to 18.5% body fat and 200 lbs even in 2012-2013(an 8 month span split during the 2 years)

My advise is to eat 40/40/20 or 45/40/15 and do 20-30 of cardio 3-4 days per week (about an hour each time total workout).  I lifted each day I did cardio before I did the cardio.  Healthy carbs like whole wheats or sweet potatos are my carbs along with brown rice.  Cutting fat will help you.  Cutting carbs to zero will make you feel like a zombie.  I attempt to drink 120oz of water a day and zero soft drinks.  Watch your sodium.  

The lifting activities seem largely irrelevant to me as long as it is high rep/low weight and you balance which parts you are working on.

I am fundamentally opposed to using supplements other than protein, multivitamins,  and fish/flax oil.  Preworkouts are fun and help moral as long as you don't overdo it.  I try to find the comparatively low caffiene ones.

One last note on calories- I starved myself at 1700 calories for months while doing this, then hit a plateau where I stopped losing and my bodyfat % stayed the same.  I went to 2000-2200 calories a day and felt/performed better.  Also, my bodyfat % and weight dropped more quickly when I was eating this way.  Plan your food and don't starve yourself.  It simply doesn't work.  Paired with cardio, you can eat.  

It doesn't happen overnight, but you can watch the downward glide path with a few plateaus.  Don't get discouraged.

Good luck again and best wishes guys.

[Soly]

I just bought and used for the first time the Polar FT4 Heart Rate monitor/Watch.  It's one of the most accurate calculators there is for counting calories burned while working out.

I also am forcing myself to use MyFitnessPal along with my Girlfriend.  Today, I ate 1529 Calories so far (I'm going to have a 1/2 Cup of Quinoa and a 1/2 chicken breast later).  That SHOULD push me to around 2,000 calories.  My routine was probably one of the most intense routines I've done:

Bench 2x10x225LBS  (Ugh; I max 340 but this was a BITCH)
Incline Flies 2x10x35LBSeach (Bad shoulders make these suck)
Cable Crossover 2x10x50LBSeach
Military Press with Hex-Bar 2x10x105LBS (again, bad shoulders... also, the Hexbar doesn't fit into a rack, so I have to basically snatch this to the starting position)
Lateral Raises 2x10x55LBS
Side Lateral Raise 2x10x25LBSeach
Tricep Pushdown 2x10x170LBS
Closegrip Bench 2x10x145LBS (this was easy... I'm going to increase my weight next time)
Reverse Curl 2x10x50LBS
HIIT:  30:00.   1 Minute Run, 2 minute Walk.

According to the monitor, I burned 1598 calories doing this.  I kept my rest between sets to 1 minute, and my rest between each motion to 2 minutes

[kwis]

I've always been incredible skinny and not-so-strong, but being awesome at running and sprinting.

I took up crossfit a few years (2.5 approximately) ago, and have gained about 10 kg since then (currently weighting about 72 kg... Which is what, 150p?)

I really think that my skill of magic is directly related to my state of health, as I just think about 100x as well when I'm in shape..

My current stats for lifting etc:

52 unbroken pull-ups
135 kg squat (3rm)
187 kg deadlift (2rm)
100 kg benchpress (1rm)
80 kg press, 98 kg jerk (4x4 sets)
110 kg clean (1rm)
75 kg snatch (working on this currently) (1rm)


I don't weightrain outside of crosfitting, so these are my stats based on what I can do in sets/1rm.

[Soly]

I've always been incredible skinny and not-so-strong, but being awesome at running and sprinting.

I took up crossfit a few years (2.5 approximately) ago, and have gained about 10 kg since then (currently weighting about 72 kg... Which is what, 150p?)

I've never personally been a fan of crossfit because it seems to sacrifice form for good speed, but others really like it, and in my mind, as long as you're staying active, who cares WHAT you're doing!

100kg Bench at 72kg is impressive.   Don't count yourself short at that.  Also, Snatching sucks.  I have bad shoulders, so I can never get the form right correct.   I broke my arm under the shoulder, broke my collarbone, and dislocated my shoulder when I was younger and it never healed correctly.

I also agree with you that I play magic and do basically everything better when I am working out.  When I am getting fit, I start to gain confidence and just feel better.

Sidenote, I did 1RM's yesterday in 3 core lifts.

Bench Press: 
340 LBS / 154.2 KG

Squat:
525 LBS / 238.1 KG

Deadlift:
585 LBS / 265.3 KG

It's impressive, until you realize I am 282 LBS / ~128 KG, and I can't run at all!

I did find out though that at my weight and height, most American men are about 4 to 6 inches larger in the waist.  I am now in size 40 pants!   A friend of mine that I outweigh by 40 LBS is in 46"!

[kwis]

I don't do kips etc in a workout - everythings strict. Speed is for competetions. If you can't do the workouts without good form and a decent pace, it's too hard for you and you need to tone it down a notch!

[Soly]

Well, today starts my 12 week challenge.  I am planning to take a hiatus from Magical cards to focus on my health.   Started today with a 20 Minute HIIT workout:  1 Minute of running, 2 minutes walking.     Today, I'll go back for weights and a 30 minute HIIT session.

My girlfriend and I went to the market and picked up a bunch of healthier foods:  Greek Yogurts, Salad Stuff (I Highly recommend Salad-In-A-Jar... I just started and it's very convenient), Chicken Breast, 90/10 Ground Chuck (couldn't find 93/7 which is my preference).    I'm really excited to start this 12 week journey.

[Norm4eva]

Get a "working breed" dog. My lab/shepherd mix needs 5 miles a day and running that with him seems to keep me fit.

Word.

I have a blue heeler/coonhound mix (looks like a bluetick, but the mother was a regular old black-and-tan). I know about this. Especially wherein mutts/hybrids are concerned; apparently genetic diversity is good for the constitution.

Also, just in general -- get a bike and (if it's feasible) use it to get to work. Biking is one of the better low-impact exercises a person can engage in, so if one has a bad knee (like me) or other things which might preclude running or lifting or other activities, hopping on a bike can do a world of good. I've been dying on the inside because inclement weather has been keeping me from biking the 3-ish miles to work and I cannot weather-proof my ride to my satisfaction. Plus who wants to show up to the office with all that splatter up the ass from snow/rain?

I don't know thing one about diet stuff, and honestly the sense I get from the influx of information out there from everything to fad diets to food intolerances -- you really just have to find something that works for you. Fortunately I don't seem to be allergic or intolerant really to any foods so I don't have this issue (unless you count, like, red wine, but that's an allergy in the "my dad is allergic to whisky" sense of the word).