I need to do this, but I'm not sure of the bikini. How about a 1-piece?

I've taken the last 2 months off from my first half, been cycling and some yoga, but can''t say I've been doing much since then.

I started eating healthy again, the workouts are on after the New Year.

12/23/2011 11:39:10 AM

i think we realized in the first challenge that not everyone is going to feel comfortable in a bikini. i know plenty of people (myself included) who have taken pictures in work out clothes or even regular clothes to show progress. you just have to do what you feel most comfortable with.

and welcome! we always need more girls in this club - sometimes the boys outnumber us

12/23/2011 11:52:20 AM

^ that and the fact that this thread is mostly judgement free

[Edited on December 23, 2011 at 11:56 AM. Reason : .]

12/23/2011 11:56:25 AM

yes mostly - except for that one time i got all on Morphine Boy for making excuses as to why he gained weight on his vacation to the states.

12/23/2011 12:10:25 PM

^^^ Agreed. I would not feel comfortable in a bikini.

12/23/2011 12:21:56 PM

Quote :

"unfat myself"

I love this.

12/23/2011 12:31:30 PM

I will take a pic of a bikini, but I won't be wearing one

12/23/2011 1:03:15 PM

I've definitely put on some unwanted pounds in the last month or two (seems to happen every Winter). Weighed myself for the first time in a while at the SO's parent's house yesterday and it caused me to have a nightmare about putting on 10 more lbs last night!!

I've already cut down on the holiday portions a little bit and gone on an extra run. Probably won't make too much a different for my New Years trip to the Bahamas, but I should probably be back to normal at the end of January.

12/23/2011 1:56:35 PM

merry christmas. I ate like a pig, was 199 this morning

12/26/2011 10:18:52 AM

Good job. I watched what I ate and controlled my portions and was 130 pounds this morning. Lowest weight to date is 128. Would like to get back to that prior to my trip to the UK.

12/26/2011 1:55:55 PM

I saw my name and thought it was a script... then realized that it really was a reference to me. haha

I just finished P90 Masters about a week ago.

In one week, I begin P90X.

Cannot WAIT to get this thing started. (I finally understand holiday weight-gain btw... I've never really cared or measured before this year... and now I'm sitting here going "Man I cannot WAIT to get back into my normal diet routine and not have people throwing food at me." haha)

12/26/2011 4:51:00 PM

i ate something i am allergic today and blew up this morning we're thinking it was the ham because i didn't have it on christmas and was fine but ate a few slices of it yesterday and woke up with a 4 pound weight gain.

12/27/2011 12:21:24 PM

wowsers.

i had to restrain myself as my family unloaded all the fattiest foods they could find. however i feel i did very well at limiting myself to foods that were less snacky and actually going to fill me up.

we'll see how i'm faring in the next few days though

12/27/2011 12:48:15 PM

I lost weight over Christmas!

I cheated a little, but still ate fairly healthy and drank lots and lots of water.

12/27/2011 3:26:34 PM

165.8 still! *sigh* I had hoped that my mother's famous Christmas dinner would have at least added a pound or two.

12/27/2011 3:46:01 PM

This was probably the worst week to make this thread


So much food, so much sleep, so little motivation.



But, I am totally in.

12/27/2011 8:42:33 PM

So where is a good place to get weight lifting routines/plans?

12/28/2011 12:32:34 AM

starting strength

12/28/2011 1:28:37 AM

I looked into that, however, I can't do compound muscle movement effectively (on going recovery from shoulder surgery)

12/28/2011 2:06:47 AM

if you're just looking to get strong, throw starting strength out the window and try this on. make sure you have at least an hour and DO NOT NEGLECT THE TORSO WORK.

http://www.westside-barbell.com/articles/using-the-conjugate-system/

12/28/2011 8:37:06 AM

Starting weight should be around 145 or so once I get back to NC. I usually gain a few pounds over the holidays.

Looking to get down to 135 by May. I won't lose a lot of weight, but want to be able to see some tone and increase
practical strength by then.

12/30/2011 12:01:21 AM

I'm starting out at 6'7", 183 lbs. This time last year I was about 165 lbs with the goal to gain, so I'm starting in a relatively good place this year. That said, I hit 180 around June and have been fluctuating between 180 and 185 ever since, at varying body compositions, so I was pretty stagnant for a while until I got back into gear earlier this month. My jeans are looser than they were before the holidays though, so I've successfully weathered the temptation of Christmas cookies and cakes.

I got the 3rd edition of Starting Strength for Christmas and am planning to follow that as closely as I can for a few months, including the gallon of milk a day, while still running and cycling a few days a week. Based on that, I'm hoping to get up to around 210 in the next three months while trying not to cringe at how much weight I've gained, and then burning off the fat later in the spring as I ramp up for triathlon and cycling season.

I'm guessing that based on my height and body type, I'll want to end up around 195 long-term once I get lean again, but I'm not sure. This is uncharted territory for me, since 165 was the most I'd ever weighed in my life until 2011.

Here's to smelly milk farts.

12/30/2011 2:44:46 AM

eleusis and/or maximus and/or anyone else.
Opinions:

Clean and press vs. Power Cleans?
Power Cleans vs. Hang Cleans?
Front Squats vs. Squats?

Though I understand in general, I'm not quite in-tune with the specifics of "form" and "function" for the clean.

And how do you feel about the effectiveness of those devices which you "roll up" a rope with a weight attached to the end?

12/30/2011 11:51:56 AM

i need to join this thread.

on top of all the garbage i ate this season, i stood in the kitchen christmas day unabashedly eating skin right off of the fried turkey...

*sigh*

12/30/2011 11:59:52 AM

depends on your goals. I don't do any cleaning motions, because I don't see a point in them for hypertrophy. I do high pulls instead, since it's moving the same amount of weight without a lot of unneccesary movement around the shoulder joint. If you're not wanting to perform the olympic lifts competitively and don't have a knowleadgable coach to teach you proper form on the olympic lifts, stay away from them. And no, your buddies that do crossfit are not going to teach you proper form on the olympic lifts; they can't even do a pull-up with good form. If you ever stood to the side of one of them training and watched how much side-to-side motion they have on the bar, you'd cringe. They use such low weight on those lifts that it actually encourages shitty form.

I do both front squats and back squats, but for different reasons. Front squats let me really focus on the quads, especially on the vastus medialus portion of the quad that gives the leg a teardrop look over the knee and adds so much width. Back squats let me focus on the meaty outside portion of the quads and work the hamstrings too.

12/30/2011 12:16:28 PM

Quote :

"Clean and press vs. Power Cleans? Power Cleans vs. Hang Cleans? Front Squats vs. Squats? Though I understand in general, I'm not quite in-tune with the specifics of "form" and "function" for the clean. And how do you feel about the effectiveness of those devices which you "roll up" a rope with a weight attached to the end?"

If you can do them with proper form....

Clean & press is a great complex lift to train general body strength and explosiveness. If you are only after hypertrophy and don't care about strength/performance; it is overkill.

Power cleans are great for general strength and power training. Very valuable for power athletes. If your form sucks, it can be troublesome on the low back, wrists, and shoulders.

Hang cleans are great too for strength/power development, a little less risky than power cleans since you start from standing. You get away with a little dirtier technique since the range of motion is less.

Cleans in general build traps and explosive strength. Most of the carry over is related to all functions that involve powerful hip extension (jumping, sprinting, dead lifts, etc.)

Front squats are useful for quad and abdominal/thoracic extension development. Using the rack position can be tough if you have shitty shoulder/wrist mobility. Using the cross grip is a viable alternative, but it's less stable than clean-rack grip. You can successful sub out front squats for high-bar back squats.

Back squats are fucking king of the lifts for a reason. Learn to squat deep, and properly for your body anthropometry. Mastering the squat and doing it frequently will sky rocket your strength and your back/hips/legs will get very muscular too. High-bar hits more of the anterior portion of the legs, low bar hits more of the posterior chain but still gets the quads too. More weight can be moved with low bar, sit back technique.



[Edited on December 30, 2011 at 2:02 PM. Reason : words]

12/30/2011 1:59:25 PM

Back Squats are by far my favorite exercise. It's extremely rewarding to be able to move that much weight around, and nothing else will drain the energy out of you like a good squat workout. It's the only day at the gym where I struggle to catch my breath between sets.

12/30/2011 2:05:39 PM

officially starting the new year at 175 lbs.

hopefully can make some good progress this year (and hopefully by summer time)

1/1/2012 2:44:34 PM

Tipped the scales today at 180lbs, that's about 5lbs gained over the past couple weeks.

1/1/2012 2:50:19 PM

started the year off right with a quick but good workout.

here's to making good habits a habit again

1/1/2012 4:55:39 PM

Is anyone here a member of Planet Fitness? I know in the past we talked about the whole lug alarm thing but what I'm interested in is whether they have fitness classes or how the place works. I have one near me and the 10 dollars a month sounds very tempting to me with my extremely tight budget. I mainly want to take classes and also spend a lot of time working with weights and building strength. I don't really care about the treadmills and such since I have already have one at home.

1/2/2012 9:54:28 AM

the only thing that has prevented me from joining a gym is the "seasonal" exercisers. and by season i mean the ones that will all sign up for new years resolutions and quit by feb-march

1/2/2012 10:00:32 AM

yea, can't wait to go to the gym today

1/2/2012 10:19:23 AM

Got my first gym visit of 2012 out of the way this morning, felt great

197 lbs

1/2/2012 11:04:20 AM

Yoga yesterday with the only not-stupid Rodney Yee DVD I've found so far, and then 2.5 hour cyclocross ride today
in Duke Forest.

I survived this descent called "Thunderdome". Yay!

1/2/2012 3:11:16 PM

ugh I am so faaaaaat.

I had the "fuck it I just live" mentality the last month and a half, which has lead me to be the heaviest I've been in a while.

time to get back on track!

1/2/2012 4:10:26 PM

begonias, any recommendations for gluteus medius stretches/pain? i feel like i've pulled the muscle and no amount of rest or stretching that i have tried over the past three weeks seems to help.

1/2/2012 5:13:40 PM

I am so terrible at judging distances. My run yesterday was 4.3 miles. I thought it was more like half that

Are loops or out & back better for the psychology? I have a hard time getting good distance in when I'm running by myself. I always want to quit Forever alone.

http://www.mappedometer.com

The gmaps pedometer site seems to have upgraded their stuff. You should tryzies.

Quote :

"I had the "fuck it I just live" mentality the last month and a half, which has lead me to be the heaviest I've been in a while. "

Same.

Starting at the end of HS sports, and continuing for maybe 6 years I kept the mentality that I needed to exercise in order to keep my physical condition. That thought process led to exactly the opposite of what my objectives were. I was getting fat places I did not want it. And a belly. I think when I was actually "giving up" when I decided to go out for pick up ultimate games. Somehow in my screwed up thought process it was a suboptimal workout.

I am so happy with how I feel now and the options I have to workout. If you can't regularly get a 1-2 hour workout, you're not going to be toned, and you're not going to get a 1-2 hour workout if you don't love what you're doing.

mrfrog's rule of getting in shape:

If it looks fun, do it.

1/2/2012 7:33:41 PM

I'll put some numbers in here for once as a baseline. Weighed in at 186 today and did the following:

Back squats: 160x5x3
Bench press: 110x5x3
Dead lift: 255x5x1
Curls: 35x5x3

[Edited on January 2, 2012 at 7:49 PM. Reason : ]

1/2/2012 7:48:24 PM

started on leangains (again). shooting for a recomp with a ~0.75lb fat loss per week, 25/75 on rest, 75/25 on workout carb/fat ratio with 200g protein / day. eating 3400 calories in 8 hours is fun. and horrible. went ahead and made all the meals for the next 6 days today. that'll save some time. things portioned out.
dropped some weight off my lifts, as due to travel and things i've only been able to lift once in the last 12 days. that and the horrible damage done the last few weeks.
felt weak, completed what i set out to do.
was surprised that the gym was empty, guess the resolutioners have kept to the elipticals (granted, it was 2pm on a monday... we'll see what it's like on wednesday at 330-4pm).


we'll see how this works.

1/2/2012 10:32:25 PM

I'm in on this

but I don't feel like posting my goals and shit right now

JUST KNOW IM IN OKAY

1/3/2012 12:04:06 AM

^ well what are you planning on doing? Are you going to do a gym? How are you going to get motivated?

1/3/2012 12:51:59 AM

lol

I've just finished month 1 of Insanity...so I'm gonna continue that

But I don't feel like posting my stats right now. I'll work on that tomorrow instead of working.

1/3/2012 1:13:31 AM

I joined the YMCA yesterday, decided against Planet Fitness.

I'm exicted! I have my first BodyPump class tonight (i miss that class) I'm going to take some pictures before I go- I know I did some damage over the holidays, I hope I didn't gain too much

1/3/2012 9:28:49 AM

I'm taking my pictures tonight. That's going to be my motivation. I'm not going to post them though until I see some improvement.

I've got my nutrition plan in place, now only to stick to it, and eat enough of the good stuff to get enough energy.

1/3/2012 9:31:25 AM

^^which Y do you go to? I go to the one on HB street.

1/3/2012 11:39:22 AM

Today I had what seems to be a simple baby step but one that will actually do me some good: using a measuring cup. I left a set out so I will always see them, and it actually works on reminding me to stop for a second and get the right proportion

Oh and as for last night... Working on that jump 360 spin side kick - I'm not very good at it right now :/ but. Made myself lift weights for about 30 min straight after so I feel pretty good about that. My goal is to win this thread this year

1/3/2012 11:42:03 AM

do it lady

although, i aim for a comeback and win it for a second time

1/3/2012 11:44:22 AM

^^^YMCA of the Brandywine Valley

^^yes! me too!

1/3/2012 11:44:31 AM

oh i didn't know you weren't in raleigh!

1/3/2012 11:50:37 AM