^ Nice man.


Horn tootin time. Hit a personal best 29 full extension chin-ups morning. Was really surprised as I felt like I had fallen off in my pull-up/chin-up routine over the year. But now that I think about it, I always do my workout after a long run and I'm pretty exhausted...especially in this weather. Wasn't planning on maxing out this morning, but hit 14 or 15 and just kept rolling. Last time I maxed out reps was about a year ago and I did 28. I've had some big gaps in working out this year, but have been hitting it pretty hard recently with my new routine of running my kid to daycare and getting a workout in at the local park.

If I can keep this up through the summer, I should easily hit my goal of 30. Turn 35 in July...so maybe my new goal should be to reach my age. Don't think I can get past that, but we'll see.

6/22/2018 11:57:37 AM

did 14.8 miles on the bike this morning. feels great.

6/24/2018 12:21:09 PM

i need a 2 or 3 day per week resistance training regimen. not trying to build insane muscles or anything. i get overwhelmed when i google it. i have dumbells, barbells, power rack, cable machine, resistance bands, and some hammer strength plate machines at my disposal. i don't have a routine and just jump around haphazardly now.
suggestions on where to start?

6/28/2018 7:42:18 PM

check out the r/fitness wiki (https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/wiki/index)

plenty of routines to choose from, and lots of advice!

6/29/2018 8:20:25 AM

did 21 miles on the bike today

7/1/2018 9:53:13 AM

good stuff. what kind of bike do you have?

7/1/2018 6:51:53 PM

^^^

Start with the big compound movements:

- Quads and glutes: Squats and/or lunges (do a mix or alternate by week)
- Hamstrings and lower back: "Stiff"-legged deadlifts, also called Romanian deadlifts
- Full back and legs: Conventional deadlift

- Back: Pull ups (or pulling exercise on machines, such as pull down, rows)
- Chest: Bench press (or push ups (put plate on back when you can do a solid 20) or use machines)
- Shoulders: Military press (or use machines)

You can skip shoulders if you want, as the back and chest exercises will work shoulders as well. And no need to do arms (unless you really want to) as any upper body exercise (and to some degree deadlifts) will work arms greatly.

Watch some videos to learn to do the exercises, for both free weights and with machines. For free weight exercises, do them for a week first with the bar only (or 5 lb plates each side) to master the movement, technique, and balance in a safe way. Learn the leg exercises properly and pay attention to any safety instructions, especially where the back and/or knees are involved.

As for frequency/split, for a complete beginner I would say for a month or two do the whole body once a week only:

Day 1: Lower body
Day 4: Upper body

Repeat like that every week.

After a month or two if you are feeling confident and want to increase the frequency, increase to whole body 1.5 times a week:

Day 1: Lower
Day 3: Upper
Day 5: Lower
Day 8: Upper
Day 10: Lower
Day 12: Upper

(Whole body done 3 times in 2 weeks)

For the first 1-2 months to get your body acclimatized, do 3 sets/body part, so 3 quads, 3 hamstrings, 3 calves (optional), 3 chest, 3 back, 3 shoulders.

Then you can increase to 4 sets/body part after a few weeks, if you want and have the time.

For reps, anywhere anywhere between 6 and 15 reps/body part is fine, depending on your goal. Lower end of the range for muscle building, and higher end for general fitness and endurance. Needless to say, the weight you choose will depend on how many reps you want to do, so higher weight for lower reps and lower for higher reps.

But don't become a meathead and be like "I absolutely must do 8 reps every single set and if the weight is too much I will do partial reps to make the 8 or if it is too little I will do negative reps to exhaust by 8" etc. Whatever reps you are able to do, just do them. Next set you can adjust up or down, and also listen to your body and see what feels good. If 15 reps feel good to you with lighter weight rather than being a musclehead and doing 6-8 with heavier weight, do the 15 with lighter.

Generally speaking, you want to select the weight so that you are only able to do roughly the reps you want to do. If the weight was too light or too much, do what you can, and adjust in the next set. You will need to figure out your lifts for the desired number of reps, and that requires 1-2 weeks to establish. And that's why you should keep a diary where you record every single set (# of reps and weight) of each exercise you do. You can download prepared spreadsheets where you can fill in the info, but I just like to keep a small pocket-sized notepad/notebook plus it gives me the flexibility to record the way I want to. Also record if you tried any new grip, stance width, exercise variation, etc, and how it felt and if you want to try it again or not.

Trust me, you do want to record it. You will look at it prior to each workout to see what weight you did last time, and decide if you want to increase it or keep the same, and so on every week. You DO NOT have to increase the weight if you don't want to. If you are just trying to be fit and not necessarily get bigger, there is absolutely no need to. Of course, you will increase the weight on each lift for the first 2-3 months. After that, you can stay at those weights for life, or until your goal changes.

Use good form, lift the weight with the muscle concerned, and not using swinging or momentum from the rest of the body. Raise the weight (movement against gravity) in 1-2 seconds, and lower it (with gravity) in 2-3 seconds. Don't compromise your form; if you are mid-rep and unable to complete it, just lower the weight and end your set, don't fight it.

7/1/2018 7:01:10 PM

^^Trek FX 3

7/1/2018 7:19:14 PM

down 60 lbs

7/7/2018 1:00:30 PM

Awesome man!

7/7/2018 10:54:15 PM

did 3 laps through wrightsville beach this morning on the bike for 30 miles total. down about 65 lbs.

7/20/2018 10:12:50 AM

I'm down 23 lbs doing crossfit like workout and watching what I eat (under 2300 calories a day)...trying to avoid beer and drinking as much as reasonably possible and enjoying bourbon neat when I do drink.

7/20/2018 11:33:27 AM

i'm doing 1500 kcal per day. i quit drinking anything but water. it just makes it easier to stay under 1500 and i don't really miss it at this point.

7/20/2018 12:11:57 PM

What do y'all use for meal/calorie tracking?

7/22/2018 10:54:36 AM

MyFitnessPal is probably the easiest. I used to use fitday and I still think that’s better for custom meals but MyFitnessPal has a better database

7/22/2018 11:24:16 AM

myfitnesspal. it's not perfect. the layout kinda sucks, but it works fine for me.

7/22/2018 11:26:06 AM

^I'm curious what your meal plan looks like on a weekly basis. 1500 calories isn't much, so also curious if you are always hungry when cutting that many calories.

7/23/2018 9:59:12 AM

1500 calories isn't a lot, but when you've adapted and your in the "zone" when it comes to dieting/weight-loss, it becomes the norm. You also drink a lot of water to try and trick your body, but a lot of it is just mental and if you're seeing success on the scales you can convince yourself it's worth being a little hungry. Feel like when I was losing a lot of weight it was the norm to go to bed and wake up hungry but it became the norm and it got easier as your body acclimated to the less calories. But I also was at 1500 calories for a while before inevitably dropping it down to 1000-1200 calories a day and got a little crazy with it.

Source: Lost 140+ lbs and was a bit obsessed with my weight loss for a number of years.

7/23/2018 11:00:58 AM

^^you can add me as a friend on myfitnesspal and look at my food log. username is casummerlin213. i don't really plan meals extensively. we do blue apron meals 3 nights a week and they're not particularly "healthy", but i do try to choose lower calorie options from their menu. i skip breakfast a lot. i don't eat out much. i don't drink any calories, unless you count some smoothies i've started experimenting with. i don't do any supplements or powders or anything like that. i have even quit caffeine. i weigh everything i can.

^this is accurate for me. yeah, i'm hungry some, but i'd be hungry on 2000 calories, so why not do 1500? i was hungry for a good portion of the day when i was eating 3000+ kcal per day. that's what got me to my highest weight. i wasn't a binge eater or emotional eater. i feel better than i've felt in 10+ years. the progress i see on the scale and in the mirror and the compliments i get from friends and coworkers are better than the food at this point.

7/23/2018 6:46:08 PM

^As someone who has been where you are, I definitely understand how good it feels when you get compliments and such, hell it was amazing to see old friends or people I hadn't seen in 10 years that introduced themselves to me and didn't recognize me. I'd STRONGLY urge you to stay committed to lifting.

I got obsessed with watching the scale drop, getting compliments, dropping clothes sizes, etc, and I went from lifting well to lifting for maintenance to almost fully cardio and hating lifting. I was running 4-5 miles a day 4-5 times a week and minimal lifting. I dropped a lot of weight but plenty of it was muscle. Probably my only real regret in my weight loss was getting focused on a goal weight(for me it was 180lbs after starting at 340lbs), so I basically hit my goal but sacrificed some muscle mass. Lead to being somewhat skinny-fat, looser skin, less strength, etc. I've gone back up and hover around 200-210 now but still haven't gotten back to my former strength when I was first losing weight(lifting 4-5 times a week, doing P90X, etc). Also, I discourage going down to below 1200 calories a day. It's just not a healthy/sustainable amount of food if you're working out regularly.

7/24/2018 9:29:42 AM

Thanks for the advice. I am pretty certain I've added muscle through the process so far. I am stronger and muscles are visibly larger.

7/24/2018 10:47:06 AM

Yeah when I got down to about 220lbs I was quite strong and you could see good muscle definition. Then I realized that I was just maintaining my weight and getting stronger and I was disappointed the scale stopped moving down and was just hovering a bit. I could actually start to see some ab muscles which was crazy to me.

At that point I committed to 180, cut my calorie in-take to 1000-1200 a day, focused on my workout being 80% cardio and 20% weights. I saw some good weight loss and started losing interest in lifting as I could lose more weight just investing more in cardio so I went to focusing exclusively on cardio(running and P90X workouts). In hindsight I would have just thrown away my scale at 220 and just fixed my diet a bit and focused on lifting.

7/24/2018 1:19:55 PM

That's good to know. How tall are you? I started at 356 and I originally set a goal of 225. I feel like 5'11" at 225 with muscle would be good. The stupid BMI chart makes me want to get to 180, but I don't want to lose muscle like you warn about. Thanks again for the advice.

7/24/2018 2:30:59 PM

I'm about 6'1, started at around 340-345(depending on which day I weighed) after my FR year at State, but yeah I let the BMI thing and the "starting to see ab muscles" thing get in my head.

At 6'1, ~220lbs I was still considered overweight. I wanted to not be "overweight" for the first time since I was probably a toddler so I set my goal for 188(just below the mark). Then when I got to 190 I just moved it to 180 because that's what I always wished I weighed when I was in HS. I also thought that if I kept doing my core workouts(which I didn't) and drop weight(I did), that I'd eventually have nice well-defined abs in time for the summer. Well, if you stop doing as much lifting/core work, it kills it. Ended up being average sized(was comfortably wearing 32 pants and medium shirts), but due to being obese most of my life I always saw myself as fat.

I've basically hovered around 200-210 for the last 6-7 years. Kudos man, I know how hard it is to drop the weight like you're doing. Also feel like losing it the "right" way sets you up to keep it off long-term.

7/25/2018 9:26:41 AM

Thanks. Officially hit -70 lbs this morning. Going to lift weights this afternoon.

7/25/2018 1:57:13 PM

theDuke866 is this guy famous in the military circles? or have you been out of it too long to know?

The strongest soldier in the world
https://www.facebook.com/TRNDVideos/videos/1543698902400463

Incredibly strong and fit at the same time -- buff as hell, but also top-level cardiovascular fitness and muscular endurance. Seriously amazing!

7/31/2018 7:11:08 AM

Down 13 pounds so far, without drastically changing my lifestyle. 12 more to go.

8/1/2018 9:14:13 AM

i did lunches from this meal prep service this week: http://www.burnglc.com

it's pretty good and i think i'm going to continue with it.

8/3/2018 12:40:12 PM

eventful ride this morning. coyote crossed the trail about 30 yds in front of me right in the middle of wilmington, a walker's german shepherd jumped in front of me and i went over the bars trying to not run him over, then it rained and i got soaked. rode a little over 33 miles.

8/4/2018 9:50:10 AM

down 80 lbs

8/17/2018 5:30:33 PM

Great work dude, keep grinding

Curious tho, why did u cut the caffeine?

8/17/2018 10:42:54 PM

tried it for a few days because i was curious how it was really affecting me and i just felt better overall. i guess it was like smoking cigarettes: you feel like shit to start with but then you are free of the cravings and addiction and it's overall better. i only drank coffee in the morning at work and any other caffeine would come from sodas, so once i cut out sodas, it was really just a matter of cutting out morning coffee to become caffeine free.

8/18/2018 9:52:58 AM

80lbs, that's really impressive! You should go hold something that's 80lbs and really think about how much happier your body is now. I'm proud of you.

8/18/2018 9:54:53 PM

Yeah, I've done that with weights in the gym a few times along the way to keep things in perspective. Got about another 80 lbs to go.

Thanks.

8/18/2018 10:21:59 PM

been doing 30+ mile rides on the weekend, often with a small group, so i ordered an actual road bike today.

8/22/2018 7:14:05 PM

what seat are you using for your bike?

8/23/2018 10:30:20 AM

I have a Serfas RX-921V on the hybrid. I don't know what I'll put on the road bike.

[Edited on August 23, 2018 at 3:16 PM. Reason : And cycling bib shorts are key]

8/23/2018 3:05:30 PM

down 90 lbs

9/1/2018 10:36:13 AM

you are doing awesome, congrats man

9/4/2018 7:34:30 PM

went for my first ride on clipless pedals and didn't wreck, so that was cool

9/8/2018 5:54:09 PM

Excellent. Those things always intimidated me.

[Edited on September 8, 2018 at 6:53 PM. Reason : Mountain biking in my case, but in general for sure ]

9/8/2018 6:52:39 PM

some friends i ride with had me worried and prepared to fall, but it really wasn't that bad. i'm sure i'll forget to unclip or have to stop in a hurry at some point and end up falling over.

9/8/2018 8:22:39 PM

Down 100 lbs

9/19/2018 8:19:17 AM

BAM!! Congratulations!!

9/20/2018 6:30:10 AM

down 112 lbs. did 40 miles on the bike this morning. feels good.

[Edited on October 14, 2018 at 12:45 PM. Reason : hard to keep up with clothes. cleaned out my closet and had hardly anything left.]

10/14/2018 12:44:08 PM

At what weight did you start?

2018 has not been a very good year for my fitness, health and wellness. At my lowest I was at 155 in 2016. I'm back up to a fat 185. I'm 5'4" so that is pretty damned heavy.

10/14/2018 3:25:13 PM

356

10/14/2018 4:56:01 PM

blood pressure 117/63 today

ran 5k this afternoon in a little under 33 minutes. had to walk a couple times. goal for now is under 30 minutes. getting close.

10/16/2018 7:38:05 PM

and dtownral, here's the seat i ended up putting on the road bike: https://www.amazon.com/SMP-TRK-Mens-Saddle-Black/dp/B00ZEO0E9Y

it is relatively comfortable for me

10/16/2018 7:41:27 PM

Down 120 lbs and under 31 mins for 5k.

11/1/2018 12:44:53 PM