Fitness challenges for 2014?

--chris--

bull313 wrote: »

I no longer count calories, which may be a mistake when trying to lose weight. I have my Cheerios for breakfast, 2 Lean Pockets for lunch, and a sensible dinner, on a small plate. Of course I drink TONS of water and skim milk instead of whole. Two cups of coffee tops. I lost 25 pounds in four months like this, so I must be doing something right in terms of diet. I do need to exercise more though

If it works let it work! Good job btw! I stopped counting cals once I get "in a rut" and keep progressing towards whatever the goal may be. No need to make things over complicated.

phoeneous

MAC_Addy wrote: »

I've been doing P90X and Insanity at the beginning of the year for about 5 years now. They work very well for me. Especially since I don't have time to go to the gym everyday. I usually maintain a 1500 - 1700 calorie diet when I'm working out and trying to lose a bit of weight.

Did you see they came out with p90x3? Somewhat same intensity but just 30 minutes. I did T25 for a while and dropped bf quick but its just too much cardio for me. I'm going to stick with heavy weight for now.

Master Of Puppets

This year I want to reach 90 kilograms. In other words, about 200 pounds, since most of you guys are from the US . At the moment I am 87kg and ripped(all six abs stay throughout the year even if I am on a bulk) which is pretty good for me, considering I am average when it comes to height -175-176cm. I go to the gym everyday. No off days on Christmas, New Year, nothing. Everyday is training day! This is my only passion that is as strong as IT. I'm just hooked and I have been for a long time - diet and everything.

Also, I'm glad to see that others are working out. Very few people in IT are in shape so that's pretty cool.

it_consultant

phoeneous wrote: »

As a follow up to this thread, anyone have any fitness challenges/goals for 2014? I'm on week two of the stronglifts 5x5 program, trying to bulk up to 175 by April. I've always done calisthenics at home but if I want to bulk then I need to lift some heavy ass weight, haven't been in a real gym in over 10 years!

I have half marathon in April, Sprint Triathlon in June, Half Ironman in June, The Colorado Triple Bypass in July, The Copper Triangle in August....

--chris--

Master Of Puppets wrote: »

This year I want to reach 90 kilograms. In other words, about 200 pounds, since most of you guys are from the US . At the moment I am 87kg and ripped(all six abs stay throughout the year even if I am on a bulk) which is pretty good for me, considering I am average when it comes to height -175-176cm. I go to the gym everyday. No off days on Christmas, New Year, nothing. Everyday is training day! This is my only passion that is as strong as IT. I'm just hooked and I have been for a long time - diet and everything.

Also, I'm glad to see that others are working out. Very few people in IT are in shape so that's pretty cool.

Oh yeah! Kindred spirit! I prefer to perma-bulk since its difficult for me to gain weight anyways, so I tend to lean towards the strength crowd or the size crowd. But its all fun!

I have to focus on barbell movements because I work out at home (in my barn gym). All I have is a power rack, a few BB's 1000 lbs in plates and 10-50 lbs powertech dumb bells. So lots of benching, chinning, pulling, pressing, front squatting (i blew my back out when I was 20 working a warehouse job).


@IT_consultant, nice! Im not much for the distance stuff, it took me 6 months of near-daily running just to get to a sub 6:00 mile. My two mile times are consistently in the ~16:00 range. To those of you who can run for hours, kudos. Its a different type of pain that is for certain.

datacomboss

--chris-- wrote: »

Strong = big, no way around it.

As a former college sprinter, I can tell you that is not necessarily true in all cases. I could bench 320 and squat 500 (when my knees where still good) @ 165 lbs. We did low reps (never more than 6).

It really does depends on your body type. If you are an ectomorph, then you are going to have a tough time getting big without some extreme calorie intake. My son was a all-district performer at WR/DB but couldn't put on any weight passed 150 lb. He could bench/squat 265/400 @ 150, but didn't gain (now @170 as a 20 yr old NCAA WR) until we bumped him up to about 5,000 calories a day.

OfWolfAndMan

Currently training for a half marathon while maintaining my muscle mass. Initially starting with a 10K in April and the half around end of September. Currently 6'6" 240 lbs. My current schedule:

Monday: Full-Body
-Squat 3X8
-DB Bench 3X8
-Row or Chin 2X10
-Shoulder Press 2X10
-Leg Extension 1X15
-Leg Curl 1X15
-Calves 1X15
Tuesday: Intervals
Wednesday: 3 mile run
Thursday: Full Body
-Deads 2X8
-DB Bench 3X8
-Incline Bench 2X10
-Leg Press 2X10
-Bicep Curl 1X15
-Cable Tricep Pulldown 1X15
-Abs 1X15
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Distance Run
Sunday: Rest

I normally foam roll and my diet is pretty versatile, but keeping myself in good shape is the general goal. For now.

beaucaldwell

I'm real into Jiu-Jitsu, best workout I've ever found. I could never get into lifting, needed more than just doing reps all the time to keep me interested. This is like human-chess, more challenging and like IT, a continuous learning journey. When I first started I was like 250 after coming off a surgery on my foot from a snowboarding accident in AK, after 9 months of daily training I was down to 184. I'm back up to 220 due to another surgery and a year off, so my goal is to hit the mats hard again and get down to a real fit 175 and start competing again.

bull313

beaucaldwell wrote: »

I'm real into Jiu-Jitsu, best workout I've ever found. I could never get into lifting, needed more than just doing reps all the time to keep me interested. This is like human-chess, more challenging and like IT, a continuous learning journey. When I first started I was like 250 after coming off a surgery on my foot from a snowboarding accident in AK, after 9 months of daily training I was down to 184. I'm back up to 220 due to another surgery and a year off, so my goal is to hit the mats hard again and get down to a real fit 175 and start competing again.

I'm currently a purple belt in BJJ, and miss the grappling tournaments and amateur MMA circuit. NOTHING quite like the feeling of entering an Absolute Division and making a black belt tap (except of course passing the CCIE lab!).

it_consultant

[QUOTE=

@IT_consultant, nice! Im not much for the distance stuff, it took me 6 months of near-daily running just to get to a sub 6:00 mile. My two mile times are consistently in the ~16:00 range. To those of you who can run for hours, kudos. Its a different type of pain that is for certain. [/QUOTE]

It takes a TON of training to go from say, an 8 minute mile to a 6 minute mile. I just had this convo with my buddy who did a half marathon on an 8 minute split. I have done the mile in 6 flat in high school (which was...16 years ago) and at any given time, I am probably the only person in the room that has done it. It is WAY easier to add a mile at an 8 minute pace than it is to reduce that pace by two minutes.

--chris--

it_consultant wrote: »

It takes a TON of training to go from say, an 8 minute mile to a 6 minute mile. I just had this convo with my buddy who did a half marathon on an 8 minute split. I have done the mile in 6 flat in high school (which was...16 years ago) and at any given time, I am probably the only person in the room that has done it. It is WAY easier to add a mile at an 8 minute pace than it is to reduce that pace by two minutes.

Makes me feel a little better than hehehe. It was 5:54 and not even the fastest in my class (that was a girl, 5:36).

I always think I should re-train to get down to a 6 minute mile just for the challenge but then I think of the years of weight lifting I have committed to and I think of how much of a waste that would be.

The 400 meter was my thing, 53 seconds! Ahhh high school! My gym teacher offered everyone in the class an auto "A" for the entire semester on the second day of class if they could out run the TA in the 400 M. We had no idea that kid was on his way to a track and field scholarship. Everyone tried, everyone failed miserably. He was fast, I know under 50 seconds...maybe closer to 47? It really puts things in perspective when you see someone near the top of their game.

MCITBound

Hey guys. A little about my background. I work IT with an Architectural, Engineering, and Surveying firm and am fresh (10 months) out of the Marine Corps. While in the Corps, I had no problem staying in shape. It wasn't until I started working in a desk all day/everyday - that I started to gain weight really fast (sound familiar?). My buddy introduced me to ViSalus' Body by Vi Challenge. They have the #1 weight-loss and fitness Challenge platform in North America. I just started my 90 challenge this Monday and am already starting to loose weight.

Their Mission: "Body by Vi is challenging the world to look at health differently-We challenge YOU to make your health a priority for at least 90
days using our Body by Vi™ Challenge."

http://aaronandersen.bodybyvi.com/thankyou.html

If you feel like loosing weight and want to give ViSalus a try, check out my site Take the Challenge | Body by Vi Promoter - Aaron Andersen and accept the challenge.

(works great with your P90X and Insanity workouts!)

--chris--

MCITBound wrote: »

Hey guys. A little about my background. I work IT with an Architectural, Engineering, and Surveying firm and am fresh (10 months) out of the Marine Corps. While in the Corps, I had no problem staying in shape. It wasn't until I started working in a desk all day/everyday - that I started to gain weight really fast (sound familiar?). My buddy introduced me to ViSalus' Body by Vi Challenge. They have the #1 weight-loss and fitness Challenge platform in North America. I just started my 90 challenge this Monday and am already starting to loose weight.

Their Mission: "Body by Vi is challenging the world to look at health differently-We challenge YOU to make your health a priority for at least 90
days using our Body by Vi™ Challenge."

Body By Vi Overview Presentation | Vi

If you feel like loosing weight and want to give ViSalus a try, check out my site Take the Challenge | Body by Vi Promoter - Aaron Andersen and accept the challenge.

(works great with your P90X and Insanity workouts!)

Congrats man, be sure to update when you are finished. Ill be watching

beaucaldwell

bull313 wrote: »

I'm currently a purple belt in BJJ, and miss the grappling tournaments and amateur MMA circuit. NOTHING quite like the feeling of entering an Absolute Division and making a black belt tap (except of course passing the CCIE lab!).

very cool! happy to see another BJJ practitioner on here I'm a blue belt, loving the journey. Havn't competed in about a year but last time I did I made it out to Portugal to the Euro Championships, didn't place but was an amazing experience.

lsud00d

Ordered some calipers, y'all...gonna track BF% and weight, possibly my exercises and eating, but all that starts to become a hassle

I did use the app MyFitnessPal for half a year when I was doing p90x and running almost every day so I have a pretty good understanding of what foods have what nutritional (or lack of) content.

Claymoore

@it_consultant It's the opposite down here with Winter being our race season. It's too hot to run in the summer.

I have a Disney half marathon the end of February and then I probably won't have another major race until the fall. I think I'll do both the Tower of Terror 10-miler and Disney Wine and Dine half marathon next fall. I've only been running about 6 months. I used to train in Kung-fu and joked that was so I wouldn't have to run. I'm at the point now where every training run is the longest I have ever run, with 13.1 miles my goal. Right now I don't think I'll ever do a full marathon, but we'll see how I feel after a couple of half marathons.

I'm going to run in the fall/winter and lift in the spring/summer this year and see how that works for me.

UnixGuy

paul78 wrote: »

I'm with you - I've been focused on reducing BF% for some as well - it's been working out well for me. I'm down to about 13% from 28% and lost about 40 pounds in the process. ..

GREAT JOB!! that's what I'm trying to do!! How did you do that exactly? I'm on a 27% BF and I'm cutting calories to do it. I have muscle mass but It doesn't look good with all the fat. I'm interested in the diet and exercise you did to reduce the BF%. How long did it take you to lose those 40 Pounds? I'm planning on losing 30 pounds in 6 months.

White Wizard

I've been lifting for a long time, with that said my goal is to decrease my bodyfat %.

I currently sit at 175 at 20% bodyfat. Goal is to drop to 15% or less which means removing some complex carbs, substituting with vegetables and lean protein.

I usually eat 6 times a day so my metabolism is revved up, just time to start counting those macros

Master Of Puppets

--chris-- wrote: »

Oh yeah! Kindred spirit! I prefer to perma-bulk since its difficult for me to gain weight anyways, so I tend to lean towards the strength crowd or the size crowd. But its all fun!

I have to focus on barbell movements because I work out at home (in my barn gym). All I have is a power rack, a few BB's 1000 lbs in plates and 10-50 lbs powertech dumb bells. So lots of benching, chinning, pulling, pressing, front squatting (i blew my back out when I was 20 working a warehouse job).


@IT_consultant, nice! Im not much for the distance stuff, it took me 6 months of near-daily running just to get to a sub 6:00 mile. My two mile times are consistently in the ~16:00 range. To those of you who can run for hours, kudos. Its a different type of pain that is for certain.

That's a nice setup you have there. Most people do not have enough weights in situations like that but you are alright. I do hear you about the weight gain though. I put on mass with a lot of effort too. But hard work and consistency really does pay off!

I eat like 7 or 8 times a day. Some of my coworkers joke that pretty much all I do at work is eat

This is a very pleasant surprise! I honestly did not think so many people exercise. Keep it up gang!

Snow.bros

For fitness i used to play soccer and jog once or twice a week but since i started working and pursuing my certs i cant play soccer during the week, but i do jog once in a while can't commit though. I would love to get fit again because i picked up a lot of weight last year and this making me lazy and tired for no reasons so this year i want to get back to my flexible shape.

BloodSweatPings

I am currently running madcow 5x5 and cutting at the same time. although i am fat as **** at about 30% body fat, i truly believe in the barbell movements such as squats, bench , deadlift, and shoulder press. These are my baseline and i just do some accessory based on what's lacking.

JustFred

I have been cycling to work everyday, take long walks and also play football (soccer for you Americans ) every Thursday evening whenever i can. The walks are really fun and it helps to keep the weight down. Even when at home on weekends after a few hours of study i will go for a 30-45 minutes walk then return to my studies.

paul78

UnixGuy wrote: »

GREAT JOB!! that's what I'm trying to do!! How did you do that exactly? I'm on a 27% BF and I'm cutting calories to do it. I have muscle mass but It doesn't look good with all the fat. I'm interested in the diet and exercise you did to reduce the BF%. How long did it take you to lose those 40 Pounds? I'm planning on losing 30 pounds in 6 months.

Thanks very much! It look me about a year. I think it's important not to rush it. I noticed that as I lose the fat, it took a little while for the skin to tighten and it looked and felt kinda weird.

I didn't count calories but instead focused on portion control and many small meals. I ate about 6 meals a day. The actual diet was more of a live-style change than a diet. It's still the way that I eat every day. And I was very fortunate because our whole family does it and my wife works hard at the meal preparations. The actual plan is from a book that we had bought 20 years ago called The Zone. I think there are updated versions of it.

Zone diet - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Home of Quality Fish Oil & Anti-inflammatory Nutrition | Zone Diet

For the first 4 months or so, I simply ate well. But once I started feeling more healthy, I started a simple exercise routine on a home gym. Just simple cardio and compound weight exercises about 3-4 times a week. At the 6-7 month mark, I had gotten so use to exercising that if I missed more than 3 days, I would get anxious about it so I started to do shorter sessions (about 30 minutes) but daily if I could.

I think that why it was successful for me is because I treated it more like a lifestyle change instead of a diet. And it's something that I still do today - although adjusted slightly to maintain weight instead of lose it.

--chris-- wrote: »

Check out Lyle McDonald's blog for some advice.

Thanks for the tip. I'll definitely check it out.

MAC_Addy

phoeneous wrote: »

Did you see they came out with p90x3? Somewhat same intensity but just 30 minutes.

I did actually. One of my close friends just bought it - we're supposed to work out together this weekend.

Params7

BloodSweatPings wrote: »

I am currently running madcow 5x5 and cutting at the same time. although i am fat as **** at about 30% body fat, i truly believe in the barbell movements such as squats, bench , deadlift, and shoulder press. These are my baseline and i just do some accessory based on what's lacking.

Been on the SS program since 5 months now and loving it. My stature is improved dramatically, heavy squats and deadlifts hammer the right posture into you. No more back and knee issues either. If you can learn how to squat and deadlift properly with good forms (below parallel, arched back), its the best thing you can do for them. Loving the strength gains too.

phoeneous

REMOVED UNNECESSARY QUOTED REPLY FROM PREVIOUS POST
True that.

What are your SS stats?

ScrawnyRonnie

Just look at my username and you'll know my current status. I'm one of those really high metabolism people. I'm 25, 5ft 11 and weight ~140. I'm under weight according to charts for my height but my body won't gain. I try to do calisthenics at home (pull ups, push ups, sit ups) but I don't do it enough and I don't do any cardio really. I should balance it out because I sit down enough during the day at work...

bermovick

Enjoy it while it lasts. I stayed at 130 from 17 until about 38, then gained 75 pounds in the past 4 years.

datacomboss

ScrawnyRonnie wrote: »

Just look at my username and you'll know my current status. I'm one of those really high metabolism people. I'm 25, 5ft 11 and weight ~140. I'm under weight according to charts for my height but my body won't gain. I try to do calisthenics at home (pull ups, push ups, sit ups) but I don't do it enough and I don't do any cardio really. I should balance it out because I sit down enough during the day at work...

You probably have the ectomorph body type.

Bodybuilding.com - 12 'Skinny Guy' Tips To Build Monster Muscle!

--chris--

Master Of Puppets wrote: »

That's a nice setup you have there. Most people do not have enough weights in situations like that but you are alright. I do hear you about the weight gain though. I put on mass with a lot of effort too. But hard work and consistency really does pay off!

I eat like 7 or 8 times a day. Some of my coworkers joke that pretty much all I do at work is eat

This is a very pleasant surprise! I honestly did not think so many people exercise. Keep it up gang!

The barn gym is a work in progress. I built the barn in 09 (30x40). Poured the slab in '10. Found a cage on craigslist shortly after that, then a BB, then another set of weights, then another BB, then more plates....only recently found a good deal on the power techs (craigslist $180). After working out with just a barbell for 3 years, dumb bells are a very nice change of pace.

Ever hear of IF diet? 16 hours of fasting, 8 hours of eating (for me it was skip breakfast, late lunch around 3 pm, dinner around 6 pm, bedtime snack around 10 pm). Its not so much a diet as much as it is a routine of structured eating, I used it when I cut to help curb hunger pangs at night/before bed. For that it worked wonderfully. I tried to do it while bulking...that didn't work to so well. I was unable to adjust to the massive amounts of food all at once and never got near my goals for the day.

Its another avenue to look into for anyone looking to cut BF. If your not hungry at certain times of day this might be a good way to go.

I too am surprised at all the people. From my experience IT is not a fit crowd! Good job folks. For anyone lurking...its an easy club to join