Getting fit with SwordsMaster

[Vladimir]

Holy cow. I weigh more than SFTS!

I need new friends. All mine are married and/or lame and aren't into physical exertion. It's so difficult to stay motivated when the computer is so close and your friends are lame.

[SwordsMaster]

SFTS: It's good to be back! It's good to be exercising again, and, specially to be motivated about it... Since April or so, I forced myself to do it, but my head was not in it...

Centurion: Horses are strong, right? So are oxen. Plus you get to eat them after.

Vlad: That's what we're here for! Join in, and don't say you have an excuse!



Today:

Woke up 10:30, sluggish, one of those times your alarm goes off in the middle of the deep sleep cycle and messes you up for the day:

Turkish coffee at 11, then:

All bodyweight unless indicated otherwise.
1-Squats x15
2-Pushups x25
3-Plank x45sec
4-Jumping Jacks/Burpees x20
5-Reverse lunges x11 each leg
6-Lying hip raise x15


10sec rest between exercises: 4th and 5th circuit, no breaks
45 sec rest between circuits
6x circuits

Really felt it today, probably due to long fasting before breakfast.

Breakfast: Cinnamon bun, shake: banana, 50g whey, 1.5% milk, kiwi, 6x almonds, 120g frozen raspberries

4pm 1st lap: 1.6km 6min/km pace, then

9x 6 pullups (3x narrow, 3x medium, 3x wide grip)
60 rest between sets

2nd lap 1.3 km 7min/km, really felt heavy.

Lunch: 400g chicken fillets, 4tbs houmous&cauliflower blend (one of 2 only ways i can eat cauliflower), 1 avocado, 1 banana, 1 peach, coffee.

Dinner is likely to be steak with some more of that cauliflower mix.

Tomorrow, likely rest from running - 1 lap only, and none for the weekend.
My project is almost over! means I can really sleep in, play videogames and still get a workout in!

[Vladimir]

Been getting back into it this week. Why is gravity so much stronger at 5 AM? I think I'm pregnant too. My belly keeps growing. I must have hit that magical mark in a man's life.

[SwordsMaster]

Been getting back into it this week. Why is gravity so much stronger at 5 AM? I think I'm pregnant too. My belly keeps growing. I must have hit that magical mark in a man's life.

Surely 5am is not necessary... I cannot perform at 5am no matter what the motivation. Then again, maybe it's the pregnancy keeping you up?

[edyzmedieval]

I just want to give out two very useful links - www.livestrong.com (http://www.livestrong.com)

And the second one, Google the following word - Fitocracy. For us gamers, combining the gym with RPG style works wonders.

[SwordsMaster]

Thanks edyz!

Did the same again today, after work, so just finished. Not posting the food because I'm ashamed.

All bodyweight unless indicated otherwise.
1-Squats x15
2-Pushups x25
3-Plank x45sec
4-Jumping Jacks/Burpees x20
5-Reverse lunges x11 each leg
6-Lying hip raise x15

10sec rest between exercises: 4th and 5th circuit, no breaks
45 sec rest between circuits
6x circuits

[edyzmedieval]

:bow:

Quite an intense workout Swords, what's your goal this time?

[SwordsMaster]

Just to lose about 8kg of fat I've picked up in the last 6 months.

No workout since my last update. Had some incredibly intense days at work, and literally no time.

Yesterday managed to do about 50 pullups in 6 sets with 1 min breaks, and today:

Had protein shake in the morning with 50g of whey, An hour later:

All bodyweight unless indicated otherwise.
1-Squats x15
2-Pushups x25
3-Plank x45sec
4-Jumping Jacks/Burpees x20
5-Reverse lunges x11 each leg
6-Lying hip raise x15

Did 4 circuits, 45 sec break between circuits, no break between exercises.
Plan is to go for a jog this evening, but it's pouring rain, so we will see...

After that had an omelette with 200g of ham, 1 yolk, 3 egg whites, and 100g of kidney beans.

[naut]

SM what's your calorie/kj intake per day currently?

[SwordsMaster]

SM what's your calorie/kj intake per day currently?

Hard to say, I'm not really counting calories. I try to make most of my meals include at least half protein, the fat takes care of itself, i try to have some nuts/avocados/flaxseed or olive oil every day, and try to make sure my carbs are complex when possible. So I avoid starch, bread, processed flour and sweets.

[SwordsMaster]

And today again:

Slept for about 14 hours. Just finished a stressful project and I guess my brain needs to disconnect.
After I woke:

3 whites+1 yolk scrambled with spinach, 3 wholewheat crackers with butter and kaviar (swedish fish-eggs in a tube... It's not very good for you),
two hours later did my usual circuit:

All bodyweight unless indicated otherwise.
1-Squats x15
2-Pushups x25
3-Plank x45sec
4-Jumping Jacks/Burpees x20
5-Reverse lunges x11 each leg
6-Lying hip raise x15

Did 5 circuits, 45 sec break between circuits, no break between exercises.

Breaks between circuits were very uneven, so I believe only twice i managed it to be 45 sec, the rest were more like a min. Oh well.

After that, 50g whey, 1.5% milk, raspberry and strawberry shake, 3 hours later:

9 sets of 6 pullups, with 60 sec between sets.

After that, about 400g of chicken stir fry. Not sure the ingredients are all on the level, but then i didn't have to cook. Gift horse, mouth, all that.

[Vladimir]

Stressful project? Was it an assassination? I bet it was an assassination.

[SwordsMaster]

That's a common problem. The first post in this thread is about breakfast. It's likely the most important meal of the day.

The lack of updates for the past few days is due to recurrent travel, and a bit of an unravelling of the exercise plan. And I've been out every night for the past 5, which doesn't help. August is always a messy month. Too many birthdays, weddings, and other social stuff.

[SwordsMaster]

We're back! New updates tomorrow!

[SoFarSoGood]

All cured by a good malt whiskey.

[Strike For The South]

All cured by 10 good malt whiskeys.

ahem

[SwordsMaster]

And so we're back!

Most of yesterday was spent running errands which pile up after almost a 2 month absence, but I managed to get in a half a mile run and a pull-up ladder (1 to 7, not impressive).

Have come to the decision I'm dropping drinking until christmas holidays because I need to save some cash, and I'm actually tired of most drinks. (It's been a tough 2 months!) Occasinal wine with a meal will be tolerated, but you all know what I mean by 'drinking'.

Been getting my diet straight today, and so the day so far looks like this:

Wake-up:
Roll off the bed, do a set of 51 pushups, then proceed with morning grooming, do a set of 35, shave, drink some water, turn on laptop, do another 40 (all max effort), shower, and start my day.

Breakfast:
spinach, cherry tomatoes, 150g of mixed beans, 1 egg+3 whites scramble, green tea, 100g of smoked salmon, double espresso.

Lunch:

300g of soya veggie meat, pasta, and 300g of banana/chocolate cake (I know, I know - the girlfriend made it, what was I supposed to do?)

Then:
half a mile jog, then 45 pullups in 9 sets with 60 sec breaks.

Dinner:
300g of chicken with tomatoes, coconut/peanut sauce, and another 200g of that cake i had for lunch. (it's finished now...)

More tomorrow!

Will update as day progresses

[Vladimir]

I really need to start doing pushups right after I get out of bed. I finally have the energy to do them after I've had my breakfast shake. Not the best combination.

That looks like an excellent breakfast.

[SwordsMaster]

Weird day today - woke up around 2 pm, had a 50g of whey+ berries shake, and my next meal was around 9pm - 300g of steak with kidney beans and a tomato, onion and garlic sauce.

Screwed up the low carb rule - woman was baking... Ah well.

Exercise:
5x max rep pull ups (total - 44) with 90s between sets
3x max rep pushups with 5-10 min break between sets.

An important consideration is i gave up drinking for a few weeks, feeling it already.

[Major Robert Dump]

I gotta change over to 5 small meals a day.

I am watching what I eat, I am spending 2.5 hours a day in the gym, and I am not losing any weight at all.

I realize my sleep and health issues do not help, but in the past I have had a system of being able to easily burn 20 pounds in a month with a drastic change of routine. Now, this is suddenly not working. I hate being old.

[SwordsMaster]

I gotta change over to 5 small meals a day.

I am watching what I eat, I am spending 2.5 hours a day in the gym, and I am not losing any weight at all.

I realize my sleep and health issues do not help, but in the past I have had a system of being able to easily burn 20 pounds in a month with a drastic change of routine. Now, this is suddenly not working. I hate being old.

A few points - and as an army man I'm sure you're aware of them (btw, like your PI adventures, reminds me of some old times in west africa).

It isn't necessarily up to 5 small meals, but a couple of rules of thumb:
1 - have a protein heavy breakfast EARLY. As in within an hour of waking up, even better if it's a half hour.
2 - have your last big meal of the day 3 hours before sleep. The only thing you can have between then and sleep if you must have something is easily digestible protein (cottage cheese, tuna, lean chicken, you know the drill)

A little bodybuilding pro-tip: Have 2 double espressos just after waking up, before breakfast or any morning exercise.

As to exercise - most here know i'm a proponent of full body workouts as opposed to isolated exercises (think pull-ups vs bicep curls), but no matter what the approach, if you want to lose weight it is key to keep rest intervals between exercises short. In the 10-30 sec range.

Also, and I'm not sure whether this is an option - invest in a kettlebell. There are few things which are such a sure burner as 50 pre-breakfast KB deadlifts.

To help you sleep: include some cholesterol in your last meal of the day. Fat helps you sleep, plus cholesterol is needed to synthetise testosterone (which helps with your muscle development) and that also happens during your sleep.

So make your last meal of the day porkchops or not-so-lean steak.

And yes, giving up drinking for 3 months will definitely help. But hey, all it took was some pretty eyes and berry pie and my diet cave in, so I ain't judging.

[naut]

1 - have a protein heavy breakfast EARLY. As in within an hour of waking up, even better if it's a half hour.
This is the biggest problem I have, not being able to get a meal in early. I get super gassy in the morning and anything too substantial makes me gag and occasionally puke.


A little bodybuilding pro-tip: Have 2 double espressos just after waking up, before breakfast or any morning exercise.
Yeah, why's that?

[SwordsMaster]

It doesn't need to be BIG, just high on protein. Think about 40g of protein (take into account that, for example, chicken is about 15% protein, so you'd need jus tunder 300g of chicken to fit the bill, egg whites, however are higher, so you'd only need the equivalent of 3-4 egg whites, much lower volume).

I had a similar problem - not because I can't eat in the morning, but because i maximise sleep time usually in the detriment of cooking time, but I now stock up on frozen berries and protein shake, and find that with a bit of oatmeal and skim milk, all blended together it makes a good breakfast that is not too heavy.

Coffee speeds up your metabolism, so by the time you're done with the morning pushups, shower, and are having breakfast your body is already at full speed to digest it. Have another coffee after breakfast to ensure it goes on for half an hour longer.

[Strike For The South]

Yup

Coffee before workout
Breakfeast, sex, and alcohol after.
Then Lunch

[SwordsMaster]

Well, today:

Up at noon - for some reason can't go to bed early, so wake up at weird times,
then:
set pushups max effort
coffee
set pushups max effort
make breakfast
set pushups max effort
eat breakfast:

Total 130 pushups

Breakfast was the remains of yesterday's pie, more coffee, and 3 egg whites and a can of tuna.

3 hours later, pull-up pyramid, starting at 1 to 8 (total 36) with rest 10 sec per rep in the previous set.
then 1 set max effort dips (24)

Lunch: 4 chicken burgers (16% fat), salad, spinach, tomatoes, onion and garlic.

Then another coffee, and I got on a flight.

Dinner likely to be a burrito.

[Vladimir]

I don't know how you stay so motivated.

[Strike For The South]

I figure I will give a serious reply

After dropping down to 196lbs and graduating college, I promptly moved back home and blew up to about 220. I went into the gym yesterday and was able to work myself up to a 405 single on the dead lift, but it gassed me. Sadly, I think my days of competition are behind me. The lower back pain which plagued me before I lost the weight is starting to rear its ugly head again as I begin to creep back up the scale. I would love to drop down to about 160 and work my way back up to around 205.

I signed up to do a tough mudder in March and would love to be down to 170 by then.

Yesterdays workout

2 mile run 11:38

BB Rows

135X3X10

Lawnmowers
80X3X10

The lawnmowers are single handed

Deadlift
135X10
225X8
315X8
335X4
365x3
385x1
405x1
415x1 (fail)

[Vladimir]

2 miles in <12 minutes? You mean km, right?

[Strike For The South]

2 miles in <12 minutes? You mean km, right?
No, I mean miles.

[Major Robert Dump]

If I ran that fast, My heart would explode, and my right knee cap would pop off and break someones car window

On a somewhat related note

I like ZUMA class because of all the butts in front of me, but feel slightly womanly for dancing

[Vladimir]

No, I mean miles.

Should that statement be followed by "in my MIND!" ? Well, alcohol is a very powerful fuel. I get by on canned beans.


I like ZUMA class because of all the butts in front of me, but feel slightly womanly for dancing

Embrace it, like you would those butts in front of you.

[SwordsMaster]

I don't know how you stay so motivated.

I look at myself in the mirror, and ask myself if i look and feel they way i want. Willpower can be an issue, but if you realise that you work out for 1 h a day including showering, and realise that is 5% of your day, you really cannot justify not doing it.

Well done, Strike! That's some respectable deadlifting.

I had back problems since very young, hence my compulsive pullup obsession. Found that mid-weight higher reps and slow weight progressions really help. I used to warm up with 90kg, then (my 1rep max was around 180kg at 84kg bodyweight) stay in the 120-130kg range for most of the workout doing 10-12 rep sets instead of the usual 6-8 rep ones.

Also, lots of core stuff. Weighted windshield wipers, renegade man-makers, human flag approximations, planks, all that stuff. Good running for a guy your weight. How are your knees?

MRD: yep, joined a few yoga classes for similar reasons. Then realised i actually enjoyed it! Now i'm just staying away from membership-requiring activities, or organised exercise. Mostly because I'm flaky and don't know in advance whether i will be able to work out or not, and most gyms don't offer 'pay monthly' schemes, only long contracts.

[SwordsMaster]

Up at noon - for some reason can't go to bed early, so wake up at weird times,
then:
set pushups max effort
coffee
set pushups max effort
make breakfast
set pushups max effort
eat breakfast:

Total 130 pushups

Breakfast: shake with 50g of whey, 1 banana, 200g of frozen berries.

Terrible food habits today, for some reason ate half a kilogram of gorgonzola.

Had 5x max effort pullups with 90sec breaks
then 3x max effort dips with 90 sec breaks

2x200m sprints, then 1.2 km run.

Dinner:
chicken and asparagus

[tibilicus]

Currently taking my annual 2 weeks off from the weight room, will post up my logs when I'm back working out again.

Part of the reason my 2 week break has come early is due to a weight accident mind. Was basically squatting about 380lbs. Fourth rep in crash mat slipped beneath me, weight fell off back bending back in horrible motion. Was very lucky not to be crushed to death. Pain felt mild so continued workout considering all I had left to do was bench (none back exercise). Anyway first couple of days mobility sucked in my lower back. I went to the doctors and they said because I was in no serious pain and still had pretty good mobility to only go back if it really hurt or didn't get better

Well, one week later it seems to be healing up nicely. Couldn't resist seeing how my body would handle squats so went down to the basement to check on the old power rack. yes, any self respecting man should have a weight room in his house. I've had mine now for 3 years, it's like my best friend. I focssed my eyes on the damaged bar, it bent on one side as one side hit the power rack pins before the other. Tried squatting the bar, it was fine. Loaded 60kg, was fine. Cranked it up to 100kg (220lbs) and my back felt a little tweaked, and there was a concerning sort of feeling of weakness. Did about 8 reps on that weight and decided to rack up, not due to any immediate pain, well nothing more than you would feel in your lower back from squats but because I didn't want to push it.

Normally I would squat 310lbs for working sets and work a 5x 5 program at around 380lbs. I doubt I'll dive straight back into that. This week is all light rehab as I feel around 80%, not quite 100% yet. That means no lifting but 20 minutes core work a day to tighten up the abs, glutes and work on hip flexibility which is key for strength training. Anyway, I'm not sure if I should bother paying to see a physio or the like as my pain is getting better and I'm only a student so cant afford that. My accident was pretty nasty and it caused me to initially collapse to the floor although I felt fine after a second. My main worry is the potential for it to be something serious like a slipped disc but again, the doc said I should be fine. As some of you may know, a slipped disc is pretty much game over for weight lifting. Has anyone here had a disc bulge or herniation. If so, can you describe the sensation? I also don't have scatia, only pain is a tight pain in my hamstring I've had form months but that's a recuring problem.

I'm also aware heavy compounds compress the spine naturally. I try to do 15 minutes spinal decompression work a day to compensate for this.

[SwordsMaster]

Hmmm. Generally I concur with the doctor, if there is no weird colours (blue or pale or red areas), or bulging, or pain, then you should be ok. Maybe use the time out to work on some flexibility for your back, will keep the muscles working and unloaded. Bring some bloodflow to the area, help it heal.

How are your shoulders/neck? Any tightness? Pain? the hamstring and back issues could be related - the nerves going in and through your leg might be getting pinched in your lower back. An easy way to see what is what is like this:

sit on edge of bed in a way that will allow you to both extend 1 leg straight (1 at a time) and bend to tough your toes without falling off the bed.
Now roll your neck forward, straight, and tuck your chin into your throat as much as possible.
Then continue rolling forward your upper back, then lower back, and then, just before you start bending forward as part of the rolling motion point the toes on your extended leg towards you and then continue tolling forward.

your looking to feel in your leg, neck, and back that as you near the end of the motion you feel a weird tightening feeling all the way up. that means the nerve is not pinched anywhere. If the feeling stops somewhere along the back, then compare with the other leg (it's very rare that both get pinched in the exact same way) and if one side feels significantly different you might want to get a second opinion. Again, with no pain, I wouldn't be worried about discs and such, but it might be a matter of getting a good massage to make sure everything is at the right places.

During my rugby days I had a few hamstring issues, and one or two ended up being lower back issues due to terrible sitting posture.

Also, pullups are great for decompression, and aligning back whatever is needed.

[tibilicus]

I tried what you suggested, felt no unusual pain so it all seems good. To be honest I'm not even sure the accident itself caused the pain. I was reviewing my training videos from the past 2 months with one of the guys I train with and he pointed out something I'd been missing completely. As we went through the videos of our sets, we both scribbled down notes, nothing out the ordinary. At the end of it he turned to me and asked, "so, did you see it?". I had no idea what he was on about. So we took a video of me squatting from week 2 and compared it to one at week 8. He told me to check my back. I was focused purely on my upper back. Again, my training buddy corrected me. "Look at your lower back". Ok, I thought. Week 2, seemed fine. Watched the week 8 video again. I threw up a little. My pelvis was tucking horribly under my spine as I pushed towards and past parallel.

In summary me neglecting my hip mobility and hamstring mobility exercises this cycle has led to rubbish flexibility. My hamstrings and hips had been feeling tight for weeks but I had just lifted through it not really stretching as I assumed it was doing no harm. Basically as my hip flexors and hamstrings have tightened my back has been progressively rounding week after week. So this week I'm doing 20 minutes of flexibility work a day on top of my core stability work which adds up to around 40 minutes of basically undoing the knots and tightness in that area. Before I squat again I'm going to hit up the reverse hypers and do some box squats to make sure my mobility is back to normal before squatting properly again. We've not gone through the deadlift videos yet but considering hamstrings are a major part of the deadlift I expect my form has deteriorated on those too.

Moral of the story- If you're going to squat and deadlift heavy 5 x a week like I've been doing you need to do a minimum of 10 minutes worth of mobility stretches a day. Period. If not, you'll end up like me.

[SwordsMaster]

Great, glad you could pin it down, man. Sometimes it's the familiar stuff we overlook. I got myself some serious tears in my back trying to deadlift too much and not checking posture properly. I have now the utmost respect for deadlifts and don't do anything less than 100%. Not that I deadlift much these days. Damn sweden, half the gyms dont have olympic bars. And of those that do the biggest disk is 15kg. And no padding on the floor. I did some deadlifts and some clean&presses the first week I was in the gym in this country, and ended up denting the floor by dropping the bar from over a foot high. They asked me not to come again. In the immortal words of Arnie: Girly men.

Been attempting some human flags today. Damn! If you think you have a strong core give them a lash. do a youtube search for 'human flag barstars'. Then weep.

[tibilicus]

Tried some more squats earlier, only with the bar so i could position myself properly. The hip flexibility stretches have worked wonder, getting to parallel again with no significant rounding in the lower back. MY current core and stabalising work is as follows. I've done it every day this week but may give it a break tomorrow depending on how I feel:

5 minutes of mobility stretches. Flexing out the hips, glutes and hamstrings.
6 minutes plank, 2 minutes front, two minute either side and another 2 minutes front.
2 x 20 oblique raises either side.
50 bicycle kicks
15 v sit ups
2 x 20 oblique raises
50 hands to heels
20 leg raises
20 spiderman press ups
2 minutes front plank

The idea is to do all of that, no rest. It normally takes me about 15 minutes. Once I'm back in the gym lifting weights next week I plan on adding that onto every session. I work a 4 day weight week and plan to add another day in for a Pilates class.

Also I've tried human flags in the past. My core, despite the amount I dead and squat sucks however. That's the reason I'm radically overhauling my program with more stability and core work. It isn't necessarily a case of having neglected my core its more the fact I'm not aware of my core when lifting and so lack an important aspect in many of the big compounds.

[SwordsMaster]

Well, here's today:

Breakfast: 2 actimels, 2 bananas, 200g of cooked ham

Then 2x double espressos

Lunch: Caesar salad with no sauce or croutons, double espresso

Snack: salmon/cream cheese bagel, double espresso

Exercise:
pyramid pullups, starting at 1, resting 10s per rep in previous set. did 10 sets, 56 reps total - first time in a while i break 50. Must have been the bagel.
Dips: 5x max effort, 90 sec rest, 62 reps total

2x200m sprints, 1.2km jog.

[SwordsMaster]

today:

3x max effort pushups with 3-4 min breaks first thing in the morning - total 128.
afternoon: 10x one armed pushups with my feet on a 30in box. 10x each arm.
5x max effort dips, 90 sec breaks in between - total 58
5x max effort pull ups, 90 sec breaks - total 42 (really bad, probably because i didn't do it at the beginning of the set, and my eating habits today have been insufficient)

5km jog - 28min, not a great pace, but i'm quite satisfied with the workout today.

[SwordsMaster]

Not much was done yesterday - stressful day.

Did my morning pushups - 3x sets max effort
In the evening, really late, and due to weird meal schedules only managed 43 pullups in pyramid, with 10 sec break for every rep.

Today, another weird day, couldn't do my morning stuff, so will be doing some pullups and dips in the evening. Over the next few days will be focusing on pelvic realignment exercises, as I have terrible posture when I sit, and my lower back is feeling it...

[SwordsMaster]

Yesterday was a good day - after taking a day off on wednesday:

my 125 morning pushups in 3 sets of max effort,
Then, in the afternoon: 15km cycle
Later: 6x12 pullup sets, 60sec rest
Pyramid dips 1-12 with 5 sec break per rep in previous set.

Most pullups in a single session yet!

[SwordsMaster]

Travelling this week, and it's pouring rain outdoors, so no pull-ups. Doing my morning pushups every day though, and have incorporated some stretching and squatting to compensate for lack of pullups and keep the back moving.

Stretches mostly directed at the soleus, hamstrings, back, shoulders, as these are the areas which suffer most from sitting for too long.

Squats: 3x50 with 60 sec breaks, bodyweight.

I'm really wishing for a kettlebell. 1x16kg could add a very noticeable oomph to my daily exercises.
50kb swings in the mornings would hit most areas that need hitting in addition to the pushups and pullups. Adding a few Turkish get ups would seal the deal.
Unfortunately that'd be the only thing in my suitcase, so for now I'll stick to wishing for it.

[Vladimir]

Oh dear. SM doesn't exercise in the rain? I had my best run time at midnight, after an eight hour shift, during a rainstorm in Panama. No excuses sir! :stare:

[SwordsMaster]

Oh dear. SM doesn't exercise in the rain? I had my best run time at midnight, after an eight hour shift, during a rainstorm in Panama. No excuses sir! :stare:

I run in the rain in the tropics. In Ireland or Scandinavia I do not.

[Vladimir]

I run in the rain in the tropics. In Ireland or Scandinavia I do not.

Oh, yea. I guess that makes a difference.

[SwordsMaster]

The routine continues - pushups 5 days aweek in the manner described, pullups have been neglected for the past few days as the bar is outdoors and it's been pouring rain. Also I was back in Dublin drowning sorrows pretty much every day of the week.

I did go for a couple of good runs, of 3-5km, and have finally built up the motivation to jog repeatedly during the same week. Diet has gone to the dogs though. Will be trying to make amends.

Been trolling the internet for one of those kettlebells you can fill with sand, but no dice so far...

[tibilicus]

Today's workout and diet.

Woke up at 8am. 250 grams of greek yogurt, berries, grapes, spoon full of penut butter and jam.

Workout 9:15:
Mobility stretches to warm up.
2 minute plank
50 leg raises
weighted crunches

squats
warm up sets ramping up to 150kg box squats for 10. This was max effort so fell back down to 8 reps before finishing with an easier 5 reps where I rested on the box longer before exploding off.
Bulgarian split squats, 8 reps each legs for four sets.
Cable pull throughts 12-16 reps for three.

Lunch was 200 grams of pasta in pesto with 300 grams of chicken.

Afternoon protein shake for 40 grams of protein. Had 5 cookies earlier in the day and developed a teenage female type paranoia so went to the gym for a 40 minute swim.

Tea was two 1/2 ounce burgers, in breaded buns, served with a fried tomato, sauteed potatoes, red onion chutney relish, onions, cheese and ketchup. It was delicious. Turns out I actually worked up quite an appetite from my swim so I had 100 grams of cereal. The chocolate type I robbed off my house mate. I regret nothing.

Bed time meal is 1 scoop of protein powder for 20 grams of protein with a pint of milk. comes to about 35 grams before bed. All in all a happy day.

[SwordsMaster]

Well done, lads. I've been down with a fever for the last couple of days. No exercise.

[Vladimir]

Went for a run today for the first time in months. 20 minutes later I thought I was gonna die. Gotta run every damned day to keep your wind. :no:

Excellent. Months is a long time. Congratulations.

[SwordsMaster]

Apologies for long time with no update, in compensation have a look at this: (http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/how-to-increase-your-strength-10-percent.pdf)

Have been on a business trip last week, so barely any exercise aside from the morning pushups. However my diet was almost exclusively beef, black beans and veggies. I have eaten 3.7 kg of beef in the bast 3 days. Testosterone was through the roof.

[SwordsMaster]

Have returned to doing some training this week. Have lost considerable strength after almost 3 weeks of non-training so had to scale back a bit.

Even so, did a pyramid pullup ladder yesterday with a max rep set of 8, and 5x sets of dips for max reps (max rep set 22) for a total of 74. Did planks in between exercises (1.5min front, 1 min each side)

Have been really watching the diet this week, cut out all white carbs, meals are mostly vegetables, protein and legumes with the occasional white carbs included after workouts and saturdays.

Been doing that for a week, and definitely feel lighter, and digestion is going much smoother even though it has not transpired in any weight change yet. Have cut down on alcohol too, limiting all the junk to just saturdays as I'm not really ready to give it up completely. The aim is to go down 10kg to 81 before NY. Ambitious, I know. Will need new clothes for Christmas!

[Strike For The South]

herniated disc

shit

[SwordsMaster]

herniated disc

shit

Oh man, that's horrible. A friend had a similar injury. Lots of fun pain pills, no?

[Rhyfelwyr]

I am so frustrated... I haven't trained for two weeks and won't be able to train again for a good few weeks.

I moved to a new gym a few months back, it's so much better and my lifts were shooting up. I've got some nice stretch marks around the traps/shoulders area because of it.... now all I can do is eat to maintain my weight (hovering between 200-205lbs).

EDIT: I think I mean lats, not traps, got the stretch marks on the upper arm where it meets the torso.

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

I got myself a new apartment finally, and i have the space to set up a little cross-fit zone for myself. I'm thinking a decent sized mat, a bench, a set of free weights, a pull up bar, and maybe a heavy bag. Thoughts?

I'm a big believer in low weight, high reps, and because of a serious injury to my left leg a few years ago i can't really run, hoping a cross-fit style of workout can offset that.

I'd ditch the weights, personally, but that's me.

If you have a leg ingury, have you considered taking up swimming? Just being in the water is cardio and it will help build up your leg muscles so you can run on the bad leg for longer without doing yourself a mischief.

Just looking for a pool here in Exeter myself, so intending to practice what I preach.

[Vladimir]

Swimming is the best, but more than 10 minutes in the water and the chlorine starts to feel like acid on my scar tissue. Been awhile though, so i should probably give it another shot.

You might want to check on different types of pools. I don't know the details but some pool systems don't rely so much on chlorine. I'm sure indoor pools use less as well.

The thing that stops me from swimming more is how chlorine affects my eyes; that, and the water needs to be warm enough.

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

Swimming is the best, but more than 10 minutes in the water and the chlorine starts to feel like acid on my scar tissue. Been awhile though, so i should probably give it another shot.

Hmm

You said you had a leg injury. Could you get some sort of sock, or something?

[Strike For The South]

Oh man, that's horrible. A friend had a similar injury. Lots of fun pain pills, no?

Nothing yet, I have to wait a couple weeks to see the physio again.

Hurts like a son of a bitch though. I haven't even attempted any exercise lately.

[SwordsMaster]

Nothing yet, I have to wait a couple weeks to see the physio again.

Hurts like a son of a bitch though. I haven't even attempted any exercise lately.

A good physio can really make a difference here - including long-term consequences.

GC: That sounds like quite an ordeal, man.

Even scar tissue should eventually be able to withstand chlorine and salt water. Perhaps there is a sock, as PVC mentioned, or a cream you can use. Have you tried using vaseline? There are also special fats that are hydrophobic and will keep your scar tissue hydrated.

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

I dunno, that's a good question. It was crushed by a Humvee, so the whole thing is a mess of scars and such.

@Strike, i hope it gets better soon man.

Isn't this exactly the sort of thing you have the VA for?

As SwordsMaster says, you should eventually recover, but in the meantime there should be something they can do for you.

Strike - ouh, maximum sympathy.

I second the Physio, and possibly a good Chiropractor, as they can tell you all sorts of otherworldly things about your spine and your posture that can prevent this happening again.

While we're having a grump, my old hip injury form when I was lost overnight on the moors made itself felt for the first time in a while today - so the weather's turning. We'll see how the morning run goes tomorrow.

[Vladimir]

I ate a pizza. It was good.

[SwordsMaster]

RESURRECTION!!!

And so the After Christmas Workout begins. After throwing in the towel on the whole fitness thing last summer - too many weddings, and travel to count, Christmas offered the opportunity to start anew. Not for free of course. These are the results of my 1st week of january medical:

Height: 5.11'' / 179cm
Weight: 209 lb / 94kg
Cholesterol: 6, of which HDL 0.97, LDL 4.93
30% Body fat

Not good. I have proposed that in 3 months I should lose 8kg/ 17lb, and lower my total cholesterol while increasing HDL to somewhere around 2.0. Also, want to go back to under 15% bodyfat.

I started working out, using the classic 3 day split (legs, pulls, pushes), and added an ab session to every day, as well as some interval sprints. I HATE endurance-cardio, but I do have a muddy race coming up in June, Hell and Back in Ireland if anyone is interested, but that will be a whole other kettle of fish, and i will start training in April for that with more endurance-focused training.

So, given the goals above, anyone have any pointers? Any good experiences with changing cholesterol levels, any tips on going down the bodyfat ladder quicker? I travel a lot, so food choices are limited, but timing is flexible.

Strike, GC, everyone else! Help me get some life expectancy on!

[SwordsMaster]

Thanks GC! I'm actually not at all opposed to bodyweight workouts, quite the opposite! Specially with my travelling schedule, anything I can do in my hotel room/hotel parking lot allows me extra flexibility.

What kind of volumes would you be looking at? Would you do full body workouts every time? Every day?

[Crazed Rabbit]

Re: losing fat, I assume you know your TDEE and that to lose 1 lb/week (~0.5 kg) you need to eat 500 kCal under your TDEE per day. I'd also recommend trying to eat at least 2g protein per kg of body weight when trying to lose weight to maintain the maximum muscle mass/strength.

I think the classic 3 day split you mentioned is good.

For abs, I like using ab rollers. They look like a gimmick but they are actually effective and they work your abs fully extended.

For body weight leg exercises, I recommend looking into pistol squats.

CR

[SwordsMaster]

Thanks lads,

Been trapped in airports for the past couple of days - UK weather (I know, I know, 'it's raining in England, what a surprise!'), but hoping to get back on the training horse tomorrow after I get 20 hours of sleep or so.

I might go back to my old ways and do 75 Kettlebell swings before breakfast in the mornings. Warms you up for the day. Ab rollers are an interesting idea, since most hotel gyms would have them also. I do a lot of swiss ball crunches (not that you can tell mind you), and try to destabilise by holding weight in one hand or another, raising one leg off the ground, and things like that.

As far as lifts go, I focus on squats on leg day, and deadlifts and pullups on back day. My grip is weak at the moment - too long out of training and that is becoming limiting with pulls. On chest day I do dips, flys, and shoulder presses at a few different inclinations, and the hit the triceps if they're not worn out. Not a huge fan of the traditional bench press as I feel it stresses the front delt much more than the chest, and I don't need the shoulder injury.

For intervals, I have started doing sprints at the gym's basketball court - so I'd do 4 lengths, rest 20 sec, and repeat 4 times. The idea is to shorten the resting periods to 10 sec, and then go 6 lengths per 'block'. I want to get to about 20 sec of all out exercsise to 10 sec rest kind of ratio.

When I'm in hotel gyms, I find the rowing machine is the best for this kind of breakdown as it allows you to pre-set the timers and intervals and there is no build-up period as on a treadmill, you just go. I imagine stationary bikes would work also.

Diet is the hardest to be honest. I was never a huge fan of fast-food, so that's ok, but I do love bread, cheese, and red meat. I realise I need to cut down, but it's easier said than done. I'm hoping the exercise will mean i don't need to cut things out altogether. We shall observe.

Thanks for the replies, and keep them coming!

[Rhyfelwyr]

I've noticed that doing press ups with a backpack full of weights gives me a great chest pump after it so it must be working the muscles well- maybe something to try if you don't have access to a gym.

[Strike For The South]

Fiber and Fish Oil for the cholesterol.

As for losing weight. No refined sugar, no alcohol (lol), lots of water, breads in the morning (if at all)

[SwordsMaster]

Fiber and Fish Oil for the cholesterol.

As for losing weight. No refined sugar, no alcohol (lol), lots of water, breads in the morning (if at all)

Damn. Alcohol is pretty much the main thing keeping me going... I'm not huge on breads anyway, but refined sugar is hard to avoid. Not because I have a massive sweet tooth, but because they put it in damn near everything!

Fish oil is a good idea - didn't think of that.

Thanks Strike! I'll post some pictures of progress in a couple of weeks.

[SwordsMaster]

Gawd! It's hard to stick to a routine... 3 countries in 2 weeks, and very few opportunities for healthy eating. Been feeding on pork, mostly, and tried to accompany with veggies or roasted potatoes when available, but this was, at best, not productive, and at worst counter-productive.

Workouts have been down to 100 or so pushups a day, and as many squats, plus a couple of minutes of planks. Not great...

[SwordsMaster]

Those are the main issues - healthy eating is the hardest one.

[Kagemusha]

One tip for snacks if you eat such.Try having different kinds of nuts as snacks. Very good nutrition value, lots of protein and good fat, low carb. Excellent stuff for small fillers.

[SwordsMaster]

Replaced the morning routine with a steady every day 50 pushups, 50 kettlebell swings (found my 16kg at home) and 50 situps of different varieties. Any more than that I don't have time for before work.

Continuing with my 3 day split - doing 3 days in a row - legs, push, pull, then take a break for a day or use it to do smaller stuff (arms or shoulders, or specific moves) Had a couple of shoulder injuries in the past 2 years, so range of motion still a bit limited, so trying to do some stretching, and specific holds to restore functionality. Started rock climbing again last week, so doing that on thursdays.

Starting to feel the difference - strength is improving, and cardio recovery time is also, so my sprinting is starting to pay off somewhat. Let's see if I can start reducing the belt size!

[naut]

How regularly do any of you get injured? I know I have some muscular imbalances, that I've been working to correct, which cause me injury. In the past I've had a grade three groin strain (most painful thing I've ever done to myself), and presently I've damaged the lateral meniscus of my left knee.

I was wondering if I was alone in getting wear and tear?

[SwordsMaster]

Not alone - had a bad couple of years for my shoulders in 2011, and 2012 - still haven't recovered the full range of motion, and the scapula is very weak which affects a range of things including posture during lifts, etc. Had some serious hamstring injuries a few years back - had to stop playing rugby, and only recovered full flexibility last year with lots of stretching... Let it heal, don't rush into things, get a good physio's advice, and be gentle. Stretching, balancing and postural exercises are key to recovering. What sport are you in? Whatever you do it's good to watch bodybuilders train, they have incredibly developed feeling for what muscle is being contracted and works in any possible exercise and have some good advice on overcoming injuries. At the end of the day if you're squatting 360 kg you can get injured quite easily.

If you're interested, Kai Greene has a series of videos on youtube called 'Train with Kai' that are very interesting to watch to observe both his technique and mental process. He's one of the world's top 5 bodybuilders.

[SwordsMaster]

90 Kg /198 lb yesterday. Feeling stronger, squat is 120kg already, deadlift at 140 kg, and went from sets of 8 on the pullup to sets of 12. Also recovery time has improved significantly with HIIT.

So naturally I celebrate by binging... Took a cheat day yesterday, had 5 pints of Guinness while watching Ireland win their 6 Nations game, and stuffed myself with all sorts of things bad for me. Had a hamburger for breakfast, so you can imagine. About half way from my April target and 4-5 more kg to go, but finally feeling like this might actually happen.

Anyway, just thought I'd share.

[Myth]

I've been working out with a personal trainer for close to 3 years now. I have gains and he is really doing his best - he is giving me weights and crossfit (gymnastic) and a good amount of cardio, but I have trouble losing excess pounds due to my sub-par eating habits (especially in winter) and also due to the fact that I did not exercise during my early teenage years and was quite chubby back then.

Some of the things I do I was surprised to see in the videos here: http://popworkouts.com/gerard-butler-300-workout/ though obviously the results these guys got were due to the 4 hours a day/6 days a week training for 4 months.

How much do you train per week? How do you manage it if you have a day job? What are your eating habits?

[Myth]

Oh, now i saw SwordsMaster's thread. Please merge.

[Vuk]

I work out by lifting deep dish pizzas to my mouth three times a day.

[rvg]

Weights + cardio + starvation.

Works like a charm.

[SwordsMaster]

....aaaaand so I celebrated too early. Back to 92 kg/201 today... Not sure if muscle or fat, but considering my awful eating over the weekend i'd say it's not muscle. Did well on the deadlifts today, but had a half-session yesterday at best, the gym was so busy i couldn't get to the bars at all. Legs are starting to feel injureable, specially the hamstrings, so I will take a day off on thursday to aid recovery. Chest day tomorrow, so legs should be fine. Kicking myself a bit for no having kept up the diet over the weekend. Felt like a break was deserved, but the weight gain over a day or two of weakness is definitely not worth it. Stepped up the cardio and intervals today.

A bit more on my 'cardio':

I do two things, one per day, as if you do it properly you wouldn't be able to do another one.
The Lane of Pain: This consists of sets of 6x30 yard sprints (literally running the length of a basketball court, touching the wall, and sprinting back without stopping). I rest 20 sec between sets, and plan to go down to 10 sec as I get fitter. And I repeat this 6 times, so it works out like 6x(6x30m + 20 sec) total time works out at under 5 min of total exercsise. If you can't taste blood in your lungs after you're not really trying. this I do when the basketball court at the gym is free, or the weather is nice enough to do this outside in the parking lot.

The Pyramid of Doom: This is a treadmill exercise for the days when the Lane of Pain conditions aren't met in terms of available running space. Usually I end up doing 2-3 of each of each every week. In this one you get on a treadmill and set a nice jogging pace. I usually go for 11kph or about 7-8mph. Set the inclination to 0. After 1 minute, change in inclination to 2. After another minute, to 4. Then 6, then 8. Hold on at 8 for a minute, then descend to 6 for another minute, 4 for another one, then 2, then 0 until you recover your breath. the whole thing takes 5 min going up and 4 coming down so 9 min. Feel free to increase the speed as you want.

The HARDCORE Ironman HEAVY METAL Pyramid of Doom: This is more of an aspiration at the moment, but I used to manage it in my rugby days. Basically, as above, set a jogging speed on the treadmill, then spend 2 min on each level of inclination, and go from 0 to 10 instead of from 0 to 8. The burn is quite significant.

[Strike For The South]

Weights + cardio + starvation.

Works like a charm.

No

No it doesn't

[Strike For The South]

I used to get injured all the time. The only thing that sticks with me is a nasty jumpers knee (left). Although thats probably due to the excess weight

[SwordsMaster]

So lock up your children, pregnant women, servants, and people of nervous dispositions. Its time for BEFORE and AFTER pics

1242712428
1242912430

[Fragony]

I fight bare-knuckle full contact. Not a good way to get into shape but gawd it's fun. Current status, wounded.

[Sigurd]

Working out doesn't really help you losing weight. If that is your goal: consumption > intake. Working out gives you better health, stamina and strength. But will only account for around 20% of a weight loss.
Watching what you eat accounts for 80%.
So... If your goal is to simply lose weight - stop snacking. Eat healthy small meals often.
If you want fast results - eat smaller portions of breakfast, lunch and dinner and start your fast at around 8 pm and don't eat snacks in between meals. (you don't even need to exercise). This method reduces my weight with around 1 kg a week.

The body burns around 2000 cal a day (give or take depending on the individual).
Tests has shown that burning calories during exercise is quite different from person to person and female vs male. Testing a male on a treadmill he only burned 70 cal after 30 min of hard running.
(working with the largest muscles usually gives the best energy consumption - we have the largest muscles below our waist) :sneaky:

Snacking between meals on e.g. a few chocolate bars could add as much as 3500 cal a day to your intake.

[Raz]

Why does Myth ask to merge the thread when he's a moderator that could merge it himself? Unless I'm missing something.

[rvg]

Starving yourself will blah bla blah....

It works for me. In fact it works great for me. Your mileage may vary.

[SwordsMaster]

Starving yourself will slow up your metabolism. Combine that with weights and cardio and you're going to hurt yourself and then gain a ton of weight while you're recovering from your injury.

However, if you're eating a bunch of small healthy meals throughout the day (An apple and a bowl of not-too-sugary oatmeal, for example; or a bowl of steamed veggies and rice without a bunch of super sweet sauces and junk) can sometimes feel like you're starving if you're used to gorging on restaurant portions.

*And if you already have a bad or moderately bad diet and you think just working out is going to make you lose weight, think again. Its easy to pack on 10 pounds of muscle from working out and 10 pounds of fat from eating big high protein and high fat meals every day. Sure, at some point the muscles might pop through the fat, but not before you've put on a lot more weight than you wanted and started eating better anyway. :shrug:
That being said, there seems to be some evidence that periodic starvation does seem to work. I've experimented before with 16:8 intervals where you are only allowed water for 16 hours a day, and eat all your meals (still aiming at 2000-2400 cal) within an 8 hour window. Unfortunately it's hard to keep that going with frequent travelling... But it does make you feel lighter - this is purely subjective. I reckon a 3-4 week trial period should give you answers. But, as GC says, eat clean. No refined sugars, processed meat, processed bread, glucose syrups etc.

[Myth]

I'm a moderator for my assigned fora. For everything else I'm more or less a regular member (minus the infractions and ban options), thus I can't merge threads in someone else's turf.

I don't eat bad stuff and I don't have mini-meals between major ones, but I do take in more carbs than I should (some baked products and some sweets). I also eat late in the evening, as I finish work at 6 PM, i go to the gym and am home at around 9. So I eat at 9:30 PM the earliest.

Also, let's differentiate between intermittent fasting and starvation. The former means starting your meals at 7 AM and finishing at around 4 PM with a fruit. You do get all the necessary calories from quality foods however. The latter is random and it just places stress on your organism and might make you weaker and cause you to lose muscle mass.

The best success I've had is with an intermittent fasting regime where my calories came from oatmeal, green leafy veggies, boiled eggs, chicken fillet and tuna, and washed down with grapefruit/orange fresh (not boxed juice crap). That almost popped my abs out in 2 months but then I quit the program like a weakling.

I train 2-3 times a week. Sometimes more if I don't travel on the weekend. I'm thinking that improving my diet once the fresh spring veggies come out here (glasshouse plants taste awful) and striving for 4-5 training sessions per week (averaging at around 1 and a half hours)

The sleep deprivation issue I read in the other thing is also a problem for me, because I regularly sleep around 6 hours per day or even less, due to the stupid addicting PC. I'll have to improve that as well, as it turns out it really affects performance and weight gain.

[naut]

When I'm not injured and/or travelling. Football (UK edition). Sandbags. Endless calories.

[rvg]

Starvation works, its just a really bad choice is all...

It's a great choice. I've been starving for a little over a year now, it's awesome.

[Crazed Rabbit]

I've been working out with a personal trainer for close to 3 years now. I have gains and he is really doing his best - he is giving me weights and crossfit (gymnastic) and a good amount of cardio, but I have trouble losing excess pounds due to my sub-par eating habits (especially in winter) and also due to the fact that I did not exercise during my early teenage years and was quite chubby back then.

Some of the things I do I was surprised to see in the videos here: http://popworkouts.com/gerard-butler-300-workout/ though obviously the results these guys got were due to the 4 hours a day/6 days a week training for 4 months.

How much do you train per week? How do you manage it if you have a day job? What are your eating habits?


I have a straightforward way to lose weight:

Determine your total daily energy expenditure; Google or search for "TDEE calculator". This will give you multiple results where you can enter your weight/height/age/activity level and it will give an educated guess as to the calories you burn per day. For the modern office worker sort of position, where you maybe walk around a little, the activity level will be sedentary. Exercise will increase this but not by as much as you think. Jogging three miles may only burn ~350 calories. You can calculate your sedentary TDEE and then add calories burnt in specific exercises. You can look up more calculators to determine what specific exercises burn.

Count calories of absolutely everything; You should within 5% how many calories you're eating. Look at the package, measure and weight things. If you eat five skittles, count that. If you don't know exactly then estimate the calories liberally by checking skittle nutritional info online.

Eat 500 calories under your TDEE every day to lose a pound/week. A pound of fat is roughly 3500 calories. 7x500=3500. Get there by not snacking, eating stuff like vegetables that are filling but not high calorie, and not drinking your calories.

Weight is lost mainly through your diet, not by exercising more.

The total amount of calories means much more than what type of calories or where they come from. Do try to balance carbs, fats, and protein generally, but the total amount is key.

CR

[SwordsMaster]

...aaand the gym membership expired! Damn! need to find a new gym now!

[Jarmam]

Greatest thread ever. Especially the first page.

[SwordsMaster]

Thanks Jarmam!

Found new gym. And started doing intermittent fasting - 16 hours fast every day except Saturdays, so i only eat between lunch and 8pm. So I'm 89 kg now. Running 2 miles every day.

[naut]

SwordsMaster I'm beginning to feel your pain. Travelling and staying in shape do not go together!

[SwordsMaster]

True! But, you can definitely mitigate the effects with a little preparation and discipline.

[drakey]

Currently just started. Watching those mike chang videos on youtube :p

[SwordsMaster]

Currently just started. Watching those mike chang videos on youtube :p
Bah, man's a poser. If you want to see strength, eyeball C.T. Fletcher.Or Bill Kazmaier

[edyzmedieval]

SwordsMaster - you still around Swords? We could use some getting fit help after staying in our houses. :bow:

[SwordsMaster]

I am indeed! Happy to help with any questions you may have too!

Personally I have been keeping it very VERY simple. Because that's what I am. So I decided I will try to outline what the new 'fitness' goals should be. And I realised that the goal was not really fitness, but rather mobility, and adjusting food habits to the new normal. My forearms also gave out after an unsuccessful kettlebell swing challenges way back in march, so I can't grip any kind of weight over 10-15 kg / 20-30lb successfully.

So now I alternate activities: One day I do sun salutations before work, and after. Then try to go for a 1h walk in the evening (after dinner if possible).
The next day I do 2 rounds of: 50 air squats, 15 burpees, 2-3 min of planks (you could substitute any ab exercise of your choice - planks require not equipment which is why I chose them), and the finish off with 50 pushups. I can usually complete 1 circuit in under 10 min, and the whole thing in about 30 min. If life allows, I still try to go for a walk in the evening, or bike ride, or skate around the neighbourhood.

On the 'calorie intake' side of things I have gone down to 2 meals a day, with lots of coffee in between. One meal is either oatmeal or black and red bean chili (no meat, 2 eggs) about 70% of the time, and then dinner is something I try to keep at least somewhat clean about half of the time, and the other half is usually pizza, or something we order. It's not amazing, but it is one way we keep our sanity. Portion size is key: there is no point only doing two meals if you eat twice as much, or if you chose donuts every time.

Sleep is also key to digestion, fitness, and stress management. Make sure you get 7h at the minimum, in a dark room, with as little noise as possible. Do what you must to make that happen - face masks, ear plugs, limiting caffeine, sugar, and alcohol, making sure you get at least 30min of sun exposure during the day, or whatever else will help your body transition from 'daytime' to 'nighttime' will help. It is hard now that many of us sit in a room in our homes day or night, without a work commute to help punctuate the separation, so we must be more thoughtful about it.

We'll make it through yet. It is our jobs to make sure our bodies still work on the other side so we can enjoy the things we have been missing. Bodies are lazy things though, so I keep a multitude of alarms, pomodoros, and reminders to make myself do things I know are good for me.

[edyzmedieval]

Swords, good to see you around! :bow:

I've been picking up going to the gym in the past 3-4 months, being in the house for so long required some necessary fitness changes - plus the lack of any team sports which I love like football and basketball have taken a toll.

Do you have any suggestions for core strengthening? I do squats with weights but that's about it.

[SwordsMaster]

Hey Edyz!

Have you tried asymmetric exercises to work on the core? Loaded carries with weight only in one side, single leg deadlifts, one arm/leg pushups/squats/planks. Keep good posture (read straight spine).

Long sitting tends to shorten certain muscles as well, the big ones are going to be hamstrings, quads and hip flexors, glutes, pecs, and front deltoids, so incorporate stretches for those to help 'unbend'. Yoga's 'Upward facing dog' position is very helpful for me as my lower back gets a lot of the tension when I sit for long periods. Lunges, deep squats, and rotating your thumbs outwards (arms straight down at 'attention') and holding that position is also helpful to activate the back of the shoulder and rotate it back to a more natural position.

[SwordsMaster]

Also, and this is by no way an advertisement, but I have really enjoyed Nike's Training Center (NTC) app, it is free (though asks you to register) and it provides a good variety of home workouts. It's great at keeping things fresh in case you start getting bored. There's a lot of yoga and mobility there too - at least for me, mobility is easy to overlook and focus on the things I like doing.

[edyzmedieval]

Swords, thank you so much. :bow:

I will be resuming my gym regimen next week, took a pause for a while for various reasons. I see you noticed yoga, which brings me to the question - how did you get into yoga & did you see significant benefits?

I'm not really into meditation and exercises but as a very big football fan (soccer for my American friends), there are a number of footballers who swear by yoga that it improved their mobility and lengthened their career.

[SwordsMaster]

Swords, thank you so much. :bow:

I will be resuming my gym regimen next week, took a pause for a while for various reasons. I see you noticed yoga, which brings me to the question - how did you get into yoga & did you see significant benefits?

I'm not really into meditation and exercises but as a very big football fan (soccer for my American friends), there are a number of footballers who swear by yoga that it improved their mobility and lengthened their career.

Glad to hear you're getting back to exercising Edyz! It has been helping me stay a little sane throughout the lockdowns, and this darker part of the winter.

Like any other exercise, yoga can be as much about meditation as you would like - there are many who apply yoga to strength, flexibility, balance, and not for its meditative aspects. The same is true of kung fu, or aikido, or any number of other physical practices. I personally know a number of people who would argue that running marathons is a form of meditation though I personally prefer to meditate with a Rioja and so I prefer those yoga workouts that focus on the exercise and not the more 'spiritual' commentary.

I have begun incorporating various parts of yoga into my workouts for a number of years, usually as a remedy for a particularly sedentary stage in my life. My dad used to do Sun Salutations in the mornings when I was younger, and are a quick and easy thing to incorporate into your workouts. Up, and down-facing dogs and their transitions have been very helpful with hamstring and back mobility as well. If you're already doing one-leg deadlifts you might not find the one-leg balancing exercises very useful, but I don't currently have access to a full gym so I find them helpful for balance too.

Ibra and Christiano incorporate yoga into their workouts, and there is certainly a vast number of workouts available on youtube so you have a choice of more/less physical/spiritual (Tim Senesi runs a more physical flow).

[edyzmedieval]

Thank you Swords for the comments. :bow:

I am definitely looking into it, as you mentioned as well Ibra and Cristiano incorporate it into their workouts - and look at them! 36 & 39 going amazing in their careers!

[edyzmedieval]

SwordsMaster - a little heads up from my side, I've just bought a kettlebell and I've started doing some home workouts with it. I am planning of making a small gym in the courtyard with various equipment - getting the treadmill is going to be difficult in terms of space - but a kettlebell is the first start.

Squats with kettlebells are definitely tough.

[SwordsMaster]

@edyz - That's great!

I personally prefer to run outdoors on the street - nobody has stopped me so far, but of course if your circumstances are different do what you must.

Since we all need cardio, what I have done and produces a great workout is kettlebell swing 'ladders' - you may start with 10, then 20, then 30, then 25, then 20, then 15, then 10, for example, with short (30s or less) breaks in between. Adjust for your fitness, if you feel like you may die then do all sets of 10, and start adding 3-4 reps at a time until you get to where you want to be. Once that becomes too easy (it won't anytime soon), add more sets. When I was swinging daily last May I worked up to 400 swings a day, in 2 sets of 50 before each meal, and 2 sets after work. Keep good posture (you should look like you're sitting on a chair with a straight back, not bending to pick berries).

Try goblet squats - holding the KB under your chin. If you keep your back straight (which you should) it is a good workout also for the core. In addition you may look at one arm clean & presses, one leg-straight-leg deadlifts (keep your hips straight facing forward), or single arm KB swings once you are comfortable with two arms.

A circuit I have used before included these things: 50 pushups, KB swings, 4x25 (with 20s rest in between), 2x25 KB goblet squats (30 sec rest), 50 pushups, 2min varied planks, 15 each leg one leg straight leg deadlifts. Other days if I didn't feel like swinging so much I may replaced 50 swings with 20 one arm clean and presses, and skip a set of pushups.

I had a forearm injury that flared up again a few weeks back so I've been doing some surfing, riding my bicycle, and starting to play tennis again next week while my arm recovers sufficiently for KBs. Still doing lots of bodyweight squats, pushups, and the occasional Nike workout to help keep myself honest.

Glad you're starting the new year on such a healthy resolution!

[edyzmedieval]

First time I've heard of kettlebell ladders - I actually googled how to do them, I like that exercise, I will incorporate it in my workout!

I've been doing basically Sumo Squats with the kettlebell and deadlifts as well, alternating between the sets so that one uses the back muscles one uses the leg muscles. Also those Sumo Squats - 5 sets x 6-8 reps - will absolutely lock you on your chair the next morning. :grin2:

Just ordered a curved barbell for bicep / tricep exercises, gonna arrive tomorrow, I will get some weights but first I want to inspect the bar and see what sizes I need for the weights. Should be great!

[SwordsMaster]

That's great - however don't get too hung-up on equipment - it is a form of procrastination. There is a lot of triceps/biceps work you can do with pushup variations (try pushups with your hands together in a 'diamond') or pull-ups and variations. Gymnasts don't need EZ bars.

My general recommendation is focus on full-body work (unless you are injured or impaired in some way) until you find that there is some bodypart holding you back - then work on that in isolation. This is for general fitness. If you are going for a certain look or performance goal, then yes, you need to focus on those. For a 'Hollywood power look' focus on your yoke (traps, delts, upper back), legs, and narrowing your waist - specially if it is wider than your legs or shoulders (which would put you at a higher risk for diabetes and heart disease anyway, so be careful with that).

Usually a full body workout can be achieved in two ways: compound exercises (olympic lifts, playing a sport, turkish getups, etc.) or split workouts (legs, push, pull is the most common 3-day split).
You only really need equipment for the olympic lifts, and a kb for the turkish getups.

Consider squats, squat jumps, pushups and pullups and all their variations, one-limb imbalance exercises (one arm planks, one leg planks, one-arm pushups, one arm pull-ups if you can manage them), planches, and the myriad other bodyweight exercises.

Also do something that challenges you and you have some fun with. That is rarely running on a treadmill.

[edyzmedieval]

Treadmill running challenges me a bit, in the sense that it's very good warmup for basically the entire body, and I thoroughly enjoy a light jog / fast walk for about 30 mins to prepare for the workout. :yes:

I will be focusing specifically on lower back exercises, since I consider that to be rather underprepared.

What's your take on crunches / ab crunches? Do they work? Or would it be needed to first strip the fat then to work out the abs so you can see them?

[SwordsMaster]

Great! Do what makes you feel better. For lower back, strength is important, and as you get older, mobility becomes increasingly important as well. This is where yoga helps too, as there are many exercises that will challenge your mobility and flexibility. Up/down dogs are a great place to start!

There's nothing wrong with crunches - people who have strong abs do millions of them - boxers (Muhammad Ali famously said 'I don't count crunches, I only start counting when it starts hurting.), MMA fighters, etc. However, the core needs to be engaged in every exercise you do, when you walk, you sit, ride your skateboard, jog, cycle, whatever. Depending on your current shape, if crunches are mechanically difficult (to be blunt, your belly is getting in the way of the crunch) you may want to start with planks, farmer's walks, cat-cows, and exercises that don't require bending very much.

Other sportsmen, like powerlifters (look at Mariusz Pudzianowski or Eddie Hall (in his skinnier days)) rarely train abs in a targeted way - however, the very heavy weights they handle require ab activation to such a point that they develop quite naturally. Heavy farmer's walks are the absolute quickest way to develop ab strength, and, like any other muscle they will become visible when the layer of fat on top of them is sufficiently small.

[SwordsMaster]

Here is another interesting article (https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-the-absolute-best-way-to-burn-calories?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=article5771&fbclid=IwAR165feLnU49x9ehZL4gZUqoS3_lzEn0Rq_ieWk6NcdlQcDfyv2kVQRvAbw) on the magic of kettlebells.

[edyzmedieval]

Thank you Swords. :bow:

In the absence of a treadmill or a place to jog consistently, how do you do your warmups?

[SwordsMaster]

Usually, I either jog outdoors, do some light stretching, jumping jacks, or just lighter (bodyweight only) / smaller (less range of motion, progressively increasing) of the exercises you're going to be working on. So, for example, If I'm planning 5x8s of heavy goblet squats, I would do some light quad stretching, some light lunges, bodyweight squats of increasing depth and then jump into the exercises. Once you're starting to feel your heart rate going up, moved the joints involved through the range of motion, and the muscles are ready to work, you're pretty much ready - there is no hard rule that warmups need to be a particular type of exercise, or even to be done for a particular duration.

[SwordsMaster]

As I try to spend some time outdoors, I have developed a little routine of sprinting from one lamp-post to the next on my street, and then walking back to the first one, and repeating the sequence 5-6 times. It's a form of High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) which has proven to help shed fat and improve VO2 capacity more effectively than traditional cardio. Of course, if there are underlying health issues please only do this after discussing with your doctor.

[edyzmedieval]

Swords, aren't the neighbours looking at you shifty? :grin2:

:shifty:

[SwordsMaster]

Swords, aren't the neighbours looking at you shifty? :grin2:

:shifty:

Lions do not concern themselves with the opinions of zebras :)

Surely there is nothing illegal about running on the street? If it is very crowded, go at a time when it is not. I hate running in a crowd, so sometimes I'm up at 6am to run on emptier streets.

[edyzmedieval]

Just got my weights as well for the barbell, Swords, and on the way is a yoga / fitness mat. I don't have any softer surfaces around so that was kind of needed. Time to work!

[SwordsMaster]

That's great! Hope this broadens the range of exercises you can do.

[edyzmedieval]

Hey Swords,

How's your fitness regimen going? I think I will add gardening as part of the exercising routine. Even though I'm not a fan, I find that tilling the land is actually a good all around exercise - the most basic of fitness exercises - so I found randomly that I kind of enjoy doing that.

[SwordsMaster]

That's great edyz!

Mine has some ups and downs. Now that we are being allowed to travel again there have been too many interruptions... Welcome ones, but still.

Have settled into a routine of running/HIIT sprints in the mornings (I get up at 6:30, start at 7, and am back by 7:30), then some KB swings before lunch (about 100 swings), then some goblet squats and KB presses. It all takes about 10-15 min. By the evening I have little willpower left to do much more. On Saturday mornings I play a little rugby on the beach.

I agree that working the earth is fantastic exercise! I used to spend my summers on my grandparents farm and I was exhausted at the end of the day!

[spmetla]

Hey Swords,

How's your fitness regimen going? I think I will add gardening as part of the exercising routine. Even though I'm not a fan, I find that tilling the land is actually a good all around exercise - the most basic of fitness exercises - so I found randomly that I kind of enjoy doing that.

I find basic farming a good way of burning calories too, jokingly call it 'farmer fit' though I know many farmers with beer guts too. Been using my stationary bike and some free weights in my shed to keep off the extra weight as my metabolism slows down. Getting older is a lot of work!

Also found using my Fitbit thingy to track calories and log meals has been a good way to keep myself on track.

[SwordsMaster]

I find basic farming a good way of burning calories too, jokingly call it 'farmer fit' though I know many farmers with beer guts too. Been using my stationary bike and some free weights in my shed to keep off the extra weight as my metabolism slows down. Getting older is a lot of work!

Also found using my Fitbit thingy to track calories and log meals has been a good way to keep myself on track.

Beer guts are mostly a factor of calories in vs calories out. Without getting into too much detail, how much fat you accumulate and where is based on two things: on your body/metabolism type which is genetic and there's not a ton you can do about it (though you can do a little!), and your overall calorie intake vs expenditure. You will lose weight if you are 2-300 cal below your maintenance, and you will gain weight if you are 200+ above maintenance. Calorie deficits of more than 500 cal are also not recommended as your body goes into 'starvation' mode and begins holding on to fat in case it needs it later, and consuming muscle and organ tissue instead.

As you get older what slows down is your metabolism, so it takes more effort an energy to process certain foods, but also your activity levels tend to diminish compounding the issue. So stay active, and identify the right foods for yourself (prioritize protein) staying within (or slightly below) caloric maintenance level and you'll do great!