Health and Fitness Cult!

I'm not gonna lie, I wasn't sure if you were being serious. I never heard of either of your problems.

Starting new workout tomorrow:

Jim Stoppani's 12 Week Shortcut to Size

Though, I'm thinking I'm going to double the microcycle length. Not sure though, I'm going to adjust it depending on how I feel and on the gains. Stoked to start.

This is why we try not to pay too much attention to the scale.

PGoutis01 wrote:

This is why we try not to pay too much attention to the scale.

Gaining weight is not always a bad thing. Gaining inches on the other hand...

I think I'm finally gaining some weight back. I've been trying to eat more protein everyday. It just dawned on me a bit ago that nonfat Greek yogurt is high in protein and I eat it almost everyday. I had been worried that I wasn't getting enough protein but with that realization of the yogurt I think I'm actually closer to what my protein intake should be.

Also kinda related(since I post about anatomy in here) I aced my muscles on the cadaver quiz on Monday. I'm pretty sure I got most of the extra credit as well.

I finally did some free weights yesterday. I'm trying to build up my triceps because it's definitely the weakest muscle in my arms right now. I think my shoulder muscles atrophied quite a bit too. Anyway I worked out pretty good yesterday and I'm supposed to go workout with one of my classmates on Sunday. We'll see how that goes.

I've been eating better and working out often in the past few months. I don't know how many lbs I've lost as I've been lifting weights so I know some of the flab has turned into muscle, but I have been getting firmer. My uniform at work is starting to get a little baggy on me. My belt is one hole away from not fitting me. I'm happy with this progress.

I went back to daily push-ups.

Five sets of evenly spaced push-ups.
Five sets of diamond push-ups.
Five sets of wide spaced push-ups.
Five sets of closed fist push-ups.

I might start doing those bomber push-ups or bomb-diver push-ups or whatever that Marine on youtube told me they were called.

I also jog two miles everyday and have started doing crunches while holding handfuls of bricks. I want to dips too but can't find a place. I keep trying them on arm chairs but keep afraid to breaking the chair. Sorry, my body trainer is Russian. I am thinking about putting some bricks in a backpack and wearing it during squats and jogs but don't want to break myself. I think I could do it. ALPHA!

Some people call them over-unders, dive bombers, judo push-ups, etc... (at least I think those are all the same thing).

For wanting to do dips, you can do bench dips. You don't need to put your feet on anything, they can be on the floor to start. And you can just hold onto the seat of a chair to do them:

If you're going to stick with bodyweight exercises, I really recommend Zuzana's youtube channel - she is one of the founders of BodyRock:

http://www.youtube.com/user/ZuzkaLight

And of course BodyRock.tv

And if you want a book, there's the book - You Are Your Own Gym which is really good. PM me for a copy if you'd like.

Thanks Pete. I ate horribly today and drank a bunch of beer. I did walk about two miles in there though so at least I did some kind of physical activity. I'll pick it up again mañana. I'm playing softball which starts again in a few weeks.

I went for my first jog yesterday and today I'm hurting. It's gonna be even worse on monday and I'm not looking forward to that, haha.

If you're going to stick with bodyweight exercises, I really recommend Zuzana's youtube channel - she is one of the founders of BodyRock:

http://www.rosstraining.com/nevergymless.html

for bodyweight training, every conversation should start w/ Ross Enamait

We did throwdowns today, and I forgot to shave my legs and my workout pants are capris. Sorry, guy!

Worked out my arms and back pretty good today. I've been adding a lot more weight to all the machines and doing less cardio. Today I worked my arms close to them feeling like jello. It felt like they were going to burst. I can see a big difference from when I first started working out to now. It feels great seeing the results. My core feels pretty solid too but it's harder to see. I'm not sure if I want to change my diet so the definition will be more noticeable. I'll most likely save that area for last until I'm satisfied with the rest of my body. I'm not really concerned with having washboard abs.

Last week I at like shit and didn't work out at all. Show me your shame!

Today I lifted way heavier than I should have considering the week off I had. I will be really sore tomorrow. And I'm going to lift just as heavy tomorrow.

Hot.

I've been slacking as well. I've been going on a hike here and there with my mom but for the most part I've just been eating. I have finally gained back my weight though. So I'm excited to maintain this weight by burning fat and building muscle. Can't wait for summer.

I still work my ass off at the gym but I figured y'all got tired of hearing about it all the time.

We sold a sofa bed on craigslist this weekend and Drew and I felt sorry for the older lady who bought it, so we carried it over to her place which wasn't too far away and took it into her house. She didn't have anyone to help until that evening and it was going to rain pretty hard, so it'd have been sitting on the back of her truck otherwise. Anyway, I never would have been able to help move that thing if I didn't have these guns & stuff.

I did have a milkshake last week, though.

Keep telling us about it!

Seeing you guys pushing yourselves gives me motivation.

Alecia's milkshake and guns bring all the boys to the yard! lol

You're seriously superwoman Alecia. I don't know how you do it. I hope I can find that groove once I'm in a house of my own, working, and lord help me if I have kids on top of that. I don't want to be lazy and out of breath trying to do normal everyday things.

I've been walking and doing squats and push ups and crunches and stuff and lots of yard work the past couple weeks.

I weighed myself today and I am down four lbs, some of my skirts are feeling looser in the waist and I can see, even more feel, a difference in my arms and legs already. not a huge difference, but enough to know it is working.

I'd lost about 15 lbs last december and january, but I got all depressed and put most of it back on because I just didn't care. So I am back on track now, and this time it isn't stress making me lose weight, which it mostly was before.

I found a local softball team who want to try me out at their game next week. I am excited but scared. Going to practise catching this weekend.

That's awesome! Let us know how it went.

So I got a new tennis racquet about 3 weeks ago, and I can't believe the difference it's made to my playing.
The first week I tried it out my coach called me a wall, because I hit back all of the balls he hit to me. Partly, I think I'm playing better because I have more control with this racquet, so I can hit the ball harder and it doesn't go flying out of the court. But also too, I think it's improved my confidence, which makes me play better too.

At our lesson on Saturday the coach made Isaiah and I play out some points against each other and I won both games (I think he was a bit mad at me), and even my coach was impressed at how few unforced errors I made, and commented on how good my form has been. This is after only about 8 months total of working with a coach, and before that I hadn't picked up a tennis racquet since I was 10 years old, and I didn't remember any of the proper strokes or footwork or anything. To someone who's never been a particularly sporty person, this is about the best thing ever. Playing tennis makes me feel like I'm not as uncoordinated as I've always thought!

My weekly 30 minute jog has now been extended with 15 minutes of sprinting and some more jogging on a track nearby. I suck at it so bad, but I'm proud that I'm still keeping it up. Other than that, I still have my 2 times a week 45 minute work out which is a cross between cardio and weights/other exercises.

EDIT_
Hattie, how'd it go last night?

Kit, I'm so jealous, that sounds awesome! I love tennis and really want to start again, but yeah, my financial situation doesn't allow it right now.

Seriously awesome that Kit has a tennis coach! Does it cost much, Kit? I had one to one lessons til I was 9 but I was never Maria Sharapova material.

Imke - softball was good, thanks! My body is seriously achey! The team were really nice (funnily, the boys were a lot more friendly than the girls) and were very complimentary about how I played in the match, so they want me to join them. They are all quite competitive so I am going to need to practice - especially catching fly balls, which I find a bit scary.

Well done on your extended jogging - you sound very disciplined!

Neat! I'm glad they were nice people. How often will you be practicing/playing?

I'm not sure what fly balls are by the way, but I'm guessing they're really fast.

Playing a match once a week and practising once a week.

Yes, really high balls. The fast ones are scary too! I am far too vain for my own good.

I caught some Yankees baseball show the other day while flipping channels, and one of the outfielders was teaching kids how to catch flyballs, and he said you want to follow it with your nose while its in the air. Does that make any sense? I guess it does when I think about it.

I don't find the tennis too expensive, though we play upstate a bit, where we used to live, because we like our coach and because its cheaper up there- it is pretty expensive to join a tennis club or anything here in the city. Isaiah and I do a lesson together which is $72 per hour for both of us. It's pretty reasonable considering solo lessons cost around $45 or 50 an hour. Plus, our coach is an awesome guy (he came with us to a Misfits show last year!) and he always gives us an at least an hour and a half, sometimes two hours, so it's definitely worth the money.

You guys are all very inspiring!

I ate all the carbs today, so I've got to do all the cardio this evening.

I'm playing in the Olympics!

Trial Tai Chi class tomorrow.
Been lazy long enough.

Tennis and softball?! I'm jealous. I'm pretty sure I killed my body these past few days. I went on a 5 mile hike on Monday that kicked my butt and now I probably should go back to do 20+ miles these next couple days to make up for the garbage I've consumed.

Started doing p90x again because, while I was dealing with my family stuff, I ate shit food and skipped workouts. Now my six pack is hiding, that bastard.

Not sure if I will stick with p90x because, honestly, I have a love/hate relationship with it. I love the results, but I don't find it fun at all. I might give Rushfit a try. Anybody know anybody that has tried it?

Liked the tai chi lesson, even though the other students were quite older.
Whatever, I am starting something no matter what, either that or yoga.

Oh, I was going to ask you how it went!

You haven't been keeping up with Aikido?

Aikido is still my art, but I wasn't quite satisfied with the offer in the area.

I've been lugging 50-70 pound bags of cement and boxes of floor tiles up a flight of stairs all week. Also, unloading and stacking 100 pound tires to and from the box of a trailer. Feelin' manleh.

Shit dude.

If we all still did things like that, we wouldn't have to work out.

Yeah, I'm actually already feeling results. I think I'm just "learning" to use my muscles again.

These guys that work here are all short, incredibly strong, mustachioed, and have potbellies. They crack jokes all day (in Spanish, naturally) and are friendly as hell, telling their stories, bringing food from home to share, etc. If the pay was better, I'd definitely just be a warehouse manager for the rest of my life.

I remember lugging 50 lbs bags of cement. That was not fun since I smashed my finger between two of the bags.

Yay for old fashioned back breaking labor that actually gives you muscles.

I love my trainer but this afternoon I have an appointment with the owner of my gym to see what it's like to train with him (he trains my trainer). He offered a free session but I feel like I'm cheating a little. I told my pt about it and he laughed and said it was nice knowing me. I was like, "but I'm not firing you, it's just this once!" and he was like, "no, I mean he's gonna kill you". I'm skerred!

Good luck!

Today I went to the park with my young friend to go play catch. I haven't thrown a softball in over 5 years. I'm gonna be sore tomorrow. It felt good being able to throw.

Tennis kicked my ass yesterday. It had to be about 90 degrees inside (no air conditioning) and we worked for 2 hours.
Holy crap.

Guys, are there any tricep excercises I can do at home? My biceps and forearms are getting pretty toned from all the tennis, (actually my right arm is actually a little bigger than my left arm, particularly after playing) but triceps are another matter. Should I be doing dips or something?

I made pancakes and bacon for breakfast. It's healthy for the soul.

dips are probably the easiest tricep workouts to do at home or push ups

Here are some good ideas.

http://www.liftingrevolution.com/best-tricep-exercises-for-women/

I swear by dips, myself.

You can do them off the counter top, with your back against the counter. These ones will be a little easier.

You can do them off of a chair - chair dips. These are a little harder.

You can do them off of a chair with your feet on something. And then you can even put some weight in your lap to make them even harder.

Another good exercise would be to do tricep kickbacks and extensions using cans of spaghetti sauce or soup for resistance. (If you don't have actual dumbbells)

Thanks for the tips, guys. I definitely get a bit of tricep stretching when I'm practicing serves, but that's only maybe 5-10mins.
I don't have any dumbells but I might order some small ones online or something. I do have soup cans in the meantime!