Anyone want to shape up in 2018? A continuing journey.......

rgambs

225 bench is so much more than it sounds like it is!
Good job!  I'm still stuck down at 180 but I'll get there.
Yesterday was good, 430 am alarm heralded a full fitness day.
2 hr full body lift 
1hr 4 mile run
2 hours of push mowing and weed eating
Mucked out the chicken coop
Picked beans, maters, peppers and cabbage
Split firewood and maintained a fire for some city folk
Drank 5 beers. 

markymark550

Thanks Ms H and rgambs!

rgambs, is 180 your 1 rep or are you able to get a multi-rep set in? If you can do a few reps, you might surprise yourself with your 1 rep max.

Sounds like you earned those beers though! Quite a day. 

rgambs

markymark550 said:

Thanks Ms H and rgambs!

rgambs, is 180 your 1 rep or are you able to get a multi-rep set in? If you can do a few reps, you might surprise yourself with your 1 rep max.

Sounds like you earned those beers though! Quite a day. 

That is at 3 or 4 reps, depending on the day.  And that's on the last set too.  Never have tried maxing.
I lift differently than many people.
I do sets in 4's, not 3's.  I do a warm up set where I go to 10-12 reps, then I up the weight and do 8 reps, then up and 6, then the heaviest at 4 reps.
I have seen and heard of many people doing it essentially the complete opposite of that.
I learned to lift on a very good wrestling team and I think that lifting system emphasizes stamina over explosive strength and it's very good for not getting injured, building up like that.

markymark550

rgambs said:

markymark550 said:

Thanks Ms H and rgambs!

rgambs, is 180 your 1 rep or are you able to get a multi-rep set in? If you can do a few reps, you might surprise yourself with your 1 rep max.

Sounds like you earned those beers though! Quite a day. 

That is at 3 or 4 reps, depending on the day.  And that's on the last set too.  Never have tried maxing.
I lift differently than many people.
I do sets in 4's, not 3's.  I do a warm up set where I go to 10-12 reps, then I up the weight and do 8 reps, then up and 6, then the heaviest at 4 reps.
I have seen and heard of many people doing it essentially the complete opposite of that.
I learned to lift on a very good wrestling team and I think that lifting system emphasizes stamina over explosive strength and it's very good for not getting injured, building up like that.

At 3 or 4 reps, your max would probably be 195 maybe up to 205 on a really good day. When I go for maxing out, I do my lifts like that. Otherwise, I'll start off with a couple of warmup sets then do my working sets at the target weight. Lately it's been warmup at 95, warmup at 135, then as many sets as it takes to get to 50 reps at 145-155, depending on how I'm feeling. Move up the weight when you can get the 50 in 2 sets. I've seen a few people mention doing volume like that will help increase lifts. I've started doing the main lifts like that and I've seen some pretty good results.

rgambs

My focus is on mass building rather than strength training so I tend to go high rep after the main lifts. I do drop sets on all single joint lifts and sometimes everything but bench.

curmudgeoness

markymark550 said:

Crushed it today! Hit 2 PRs. 707 leg press and finally, after what seemed to be a never ending quest, benched 225. Just can't get complacent now.

Happy Friday!

That's awesome! Congrats! :-D

I'm getting steadily stronger, but I'll never hit numbers like that.

curmudgeoness

I wasn't able to get my long run yesterday, but I managed to get ten miles in on Saturday after four hours of sleep (and three or four glasses of champagne), lifted both days, too. Today was my self-defense lesson, strength training with my trainer, seven miles. Looking forward to a good run tomorrow.

I've hit a point where random people notice and comment on my appearance -- in a good way, not "Damn, you're ugly!" like I used to get -- and not just at the gym. It's an interesting experience.

markymark550

curmudgeoness said:

markymark550 said:

Crushed it today! Hit 2 PRs. 707 leg press and finally, after what seemed to be a never ending quest, benched 225. Just can't get complacent now.

Happy Friday!

That's awesome! Congrats! :-D

I'm getting steadily stronger, but I'll never hit numbers like that.  

Thanks!

As long as you're making progress, that's all that matters.

curmudgeoness said:

I wasn't able to get my long run yesterday, but I managed to get ten miles in on Saturday after four hours of sleep (and three or four glasses of champagne), lifted both days, too. Today was my self-defense lesson, strength training with my trainer, seven miles. Looking forward to a good run tomorrow.

I've hit a point where random people notice and comment on my appearance -- in a good way, not "Damn, you're ugly!" like I used to get -- and not just at the gym. It's an interesting experience.

Sounds like an intense couple of days. I don't know if I could have done all that!

Awesome that you're getting compliments! Hard work pays off and it's always nice when others notice.

curmudgeoness

Well, I am pretty tired. ;-)
Compliments are nice, and I'm happy to take the flattery. I tell my trainer that flattery is a great way to get me through tough sets; I tried having him tell me jokes, instead, but that made me lose focus.

I crushed my run today: ten miles, 8:45 pace. Woot! That's not a bad "easy" run for a woman my age.   Now, if only I had time for a nap.

2-feign-reluctance

curmudgeoness said:

Well, I am pretty tired. ;-)
Compliments are nice, and I'm happy to take the flattery. I tell my trainer that flattery is a great way to get me through tough sets; I tried having him tell me jokes, instead, but that made me lose focus.

I crushed my run today: ten miles, 8:45 pace. Woot! That's not a bad "easy" run for a woman my age.   Now, if only I had time for a nap.

Nice!

2-feign-reluctance

I'm cruising along now into my 2nd week back at work. I've realised how I really fucking hate sitting in a chair in my office. Last week my lower back and butt were a bit sore. I'm a therapist, so I have 2 super nice chairs in here, and do sit in them quite a bit when things get busy around here. Still though - going from being super active to this felt like a full stop last week. Getting in the gym over lunch has been a great remedy for that. Afternoons are super energized, attention sharp, don't feel that mid-day lull. I'm hoping to bank as much of this good mojo as possible before baby girl #2 arrives in 8 weeks. That's when shit will get real challenging. Nice work everyone - I've been keeping up with all your progress. Good stuff!!

Ms. Haiku

I've been weighing myself weekly for over a year, and I weigh the same. I think I need a new source of inspiration. A new type of number.  Hmmmmm?

curmudgeoness

Maybe go by percentage body fat, instead? I've lost three pounds this year, according to the scale, but my appearance has changed much more than that number would suggest. Plus, if you add some muscle mass you will burn more calories, too, and then that number on the scale might start trending downwards. (Of course, if, like me, you have thyroid issues, all bets are off as to what the scale will tell you.)

If you start off at, say, 150, do some strength training, adding five pounds of muscle and losing five pounds of fat in the process, you still weigh 150 but you will look and feel different.
 

oftenreading

Ms. Haiku said:

I've been weighing myself weekly for over a year, and I weigh the same. I think I need a new source of inspiration. A new type of number.  Hmmmmm?

Ditch the focus on weight and focus on strength and endurance.  Mix up your work out routine by adding in something you've never done before but think might be fun. 

markymark550

225 deadlift today. 225 club for the big 3. #gainz

I should probably do more cardio to lose more belly fat, but to be honest I'm ok with it. 

FoxyRedLa

These workouts are doing nothing but pissing me off. 

rgambs

FoxyRedLa said:

These workouts are doing nothing but pissing me off. 

What kind of workout?  

FoxyRedLa

rgambs said:

FoxyRedLa said:

These workouts are doing nothing but pissing me off. 

What kind of workout?  

Hi! Shaun T's - Focus T25. I haven't seen zero results but zero inches lost and a possible 3ish weight lb loss. So frustrating. 

rgambs

FoxyRedLa said:

rgambs said:

FoxyRedLa said:

These workouts are doing nothing but pissing me off. 

What kind of workout?  

Hi! Shaun T's - Focus T25. I haven't seen zero results but zero inches lost and a possible 3ish weight lb loss. So frustrating. 

How long have you been at it?
It's tough not to get discouraged sometimes.
I'm no expert but here are my thoughts...
Insanity/P90X/T25 type workouts are described as aerobic exercise, but are they?  If you push a muscle to failure, that's anaerobic to a T isn't it?
We all know that aerobic exercise is better for weight loss, but most people don't realize how profound the difference is.  I've seen that hiking is the number one exercise for weight loss precisely because it is low intensity.  It sucks, but you just can't cram hours worth of activity into a half hour.  The increased intensity doesn't yield proportional calorie loss.  
It's not that you can't lose weight that way, I have a buddy who lost 100lbs on Insanity and P90X, it's just that from such intense workouts you expect intense results, and it still takes time, in part because of the diminishing returns.

I'm convinced that the average person who doesn't have hours of time to work out every day should think of their exercise as fitness training only, unrelated to weight loss.  Weight loss happens at the table, on your plate.
I can run for an hour at an 11 minute/mile pace (fairly average for a short legged fellow) and I'll burn somewhere between 400-800 calories.
If I have one (fucking heavenly) donut from the local bakery, that hour run is entirely negated from my caloric deficit goal in less than one (fucking heavenly) minute.
The (fucking heavenly) donut is great, but do I have enough hours to invest in losing weight if I continue to eat (fucking heavenly) donuts?

It's tough. 

I go to bed at 11-1130 and I get up at 4-430 every morning to drive a half hour to the gym.
I lift for an hour and a half, I do cardio for an hour, and then I go home and make eggs for my wife before she goes to work.  I eat lots of eggs.
Some days I feel like I can't do it, but I've found that the only way to get in shape and stay that way is to put in the time and grit it out.

Ms. Haiku

I love (fucking heavenly) donuts. I love (fucking heavenly) cakes, cookies, and chocolate croissants as well.

What is this life I lead?!