MgoFitness - You're Either Getting Better, or You're Getting Worse
Mates,
Last year about this time we had a pretty rousing discussion about what folks are doing to get in and/or stay in shape. A number of you have some pretty dedicated workout schedules, and also it was inspiring as many also were going to start racing, running, lifting, etc. Bikini season is just around the corner, and there's no time to start like the present.
1. So the first question is: What are you doing as it relates to cardio fitness, weights, and diet to try and stay healthy? Are you going to do any races, either modest or more strenuous?
2. And in recognition of one of the signs we had up in the locker room at Yost, "You're Either Getting Better, or You're Getting Worse", the second question is: Looking back over the year, have you gotten closer or further from your fitness goals?
Have great day.
XM
Better. New squat, dead, clean, jerk, and snatch PRs- all since November. Looking to start RP diet this summer.
I bought the RP templates over the winter, but didn't actually start until this week. My advice would be to definitely try it out, especially if you're someone like me. I've always struggled with the diet aspect of exercise and fitness, specifically with knowing what and how much to eat, and just overall getting bored with foods. But the templates are nice in that it lays out the macros for each meal and provides a guidline for how to space everything out. I obivously haven't had a ton of experience with it, but so far it's been going better than any diet I've ever tried to stick to.
So I'm mostly working on the food thing. It's hard for me to give up carbs (i.e. dessert :-), so I am just trying to eat less. I started intermittent fasting (eat normally from 12noon to 8pm, then nothing except water until the next noon) the beginning of March.
I'm losing about .5lbs/week so far. It feels like when you fast and skip a meal (constantly hungry), but I think I can live with it. I'm intrigued by the evolutionary argument behind IF (but don't know of the evidence to support it).
I'm not overweight, but about 25lbs more than in my 30's and was starting to see a spare tire and the pants didn't fit. I have high cholesterol, which IF did not help (in fact cholesterol went up, along with LDL) :( But it totally destroyed my Triglyceride and glucose levels. ^_^
I bicycle for exercise (usually towing one of my kids on a trail-a-bike), run the stairs rather than the elevator at work, etc. - small stuff like that. No weight training yet, but I guess as you get older, you need to (based on what others have already written above).
I love IF. I have had tremendous results doing IF the last year or so. I do keto Sunday through Saturday Midday and have a huge carb up on saturday. It's a huge peroformance boost and quite frankly keeps me from losing too much weight. Often I'll purposefly "dirty it up" to increase the calories. I feel so much better on IF.
I know you mentioned you are hungry a lot. Are you eating enough fat? Generally speaking if you get enough fat it shoudl help. You have to watch the calories, obviously, but I failed miserably on IF when I was still eating carbs. When I switched to high fat it made everything way easier.
I don't fully buy in to all the "culty" stuff with IF but I feel much better on it overall.
I've lost almost 30 lbs following a ketogenic diet (started in January and had a few setbacks due to gf who loves going out to eat). It's awesome because I can eat bacon and sausage on a regular basis but I do occassionally get those bread and sweets cravings. I've also been lifting and running for several years now and added HIIT workouts to my regimen. Unfortunately, I'll be traveling for the entire summer (Europe) and I'm afraid all of the weight is going to come back. The plan right now is to find local parks in each city I go to with monkey bars or anything I can get a decent workout on and try to jog every other day but I'm well aware that life sometimes gets in the way.
My main goal has been to gain muscle mass, as I've always been on the skinny side.
I'd say I'm definitely better than I was a year ago, but probably only a third of the way to where I want to be. That said, probably worse off cardio wise than I was a year ago.
My challenge is I feel like I can never be productive at both cardio and weights/muscle mass at the same time. Throughout high school, and to a lesser extent, college, I focused mostly on running and in the last two years I've tried to switch my emphasis. I like the way my body looks more, but I feel like I'm in worse shape because cardio is ultimately more important.
I did a half marathon last August in just over 1:50, but since then I've only run/done cardio very sporadically. Kind of tempted to do another one at the end of this summer, but I'm almost certain that my progress muscle wise would drop off/revert.
Meh.
What am I doing?
I don't believe there are any tricks, secret diets, certain foods that will get you lean, or certain foods that will get you fat. There are no miracle supplements. When it comes to getting or staying in shape consistency over a long period of time with a plan that is both enjoyable and allows adherence is the key. I don't "diet", but I know my macros (fats, protein, & carbs) and kcal maintenance and generallly hit them most days of the week. Sometimes I track using apps like My Fitness Pal, but not always because I've been doing this long enough that I can eyeball most foods now. But, during weekends or times where my schedule is not as structured I will track. Typcially diet is the hardest part for most. As a point of reference I'm 5'9" 190 lbs, eat about 3,000 kcal per day, about 200g pro, and the carbs/fat vary.
Most people tend to enjoy exercising so it's not as hard. I generally vary my volume and frequency of weight training throughout the year. There are times where I only lift 2-3 days per week and other times where I will lift 5-6 days. I get really anxious to train more if I only train 2-3 days per week so I typically only do that for a week or two at a time as an active recovery period. Also, typically I can only do 5-6 days of lifting per week for a few weeks before I start to get burned out. So, both of those are at either end of my spectrum. Four days of lifting per week is typically the norm through most of the year. If I look at a 12 week period I may do 1-2 days of 2-3 days per week, 8 weeks of 4 days per week, and 1-2 weeks of 5-6 days per week. I will also generally do 1-2 days of cardio per week just for general health and typically take at least one day away from the gym and do general physical activity with walks with my dog, hiking, any other fun activities, etc.
I will vary my exercise programming over the year spending some time doing more stability training to stay injury free. I will also spend some time doing big lifts in strength ranges like squats, deadlifts, benches, etc. for 3-6 reps. But, my preference is more of a bodybuilding sytle of training using one or two big lifts at the beginning of my workout for each bodypart and then doing 2-3 exercises that are more isolation movements for each body part in the 8-12 rep range. Once in a while I will also do some more muscular endurance type of lifts in the 12-20 rep ranges. Overall my goal is to maintain health, mobility, stability, joint balance, and generally be fairly strong, but at the end of the day I'm most concerned with building muscle. If muscle growth is your goal you should train in an array of rep ranges and vary your exercise selection fairly often while spending the majority of your focus on the 6-12 rep range.
Am I getting closer to my goals?
I think my goal, once my collegiate baseball career was over, was just to look good, ie lean and muscular. I think I tend to go through periods of higher and lower motivation. In general I've found it harder to focus and be as consistent into my late 30's as it was 5, 10, 15 years ago because I have more responsibilites and stressors in life. But, I've managed to stay consistent with my training, it's just sometimes I go harder than others and sometimes I'm more consistent with my nutrition than others.
This guy...listen to him...he speaks the truth. The biggest advice my current 34 year old self would give my 24 year old self is diet is the most important thing. Training is the fun part but consistency with diet is the key.
Thanks for posting all that man I really like reading about what others are doing in regard to fitness protocols and such.
to offset that, i workout a lot. most mornings i start with a little bit of yoga and stretching. throughout the work day i take breaks and walk up/down the stairs and usually get about 250 flights per day. when i get home i either run, do interval training, or ruck (hiking while carrying weight, usually somewhere between 45 to 75 pounds, depending on how bad i want it to suck). i don't take any supplements anything like that.
i'm going on 40, and while not in the best shape of my life, i feel pretty good about where i'm at. plus, with 3 toddlers running around i'm lucky my wife lets me workout as much as i do.
About three years ago made a life change after watching myself become one of the walk the flight of stairs and get out of breath people.
Now, I have lost almost 150 lbs. No sugar/caffine diet. Whole grains, vegtables, protiens, and fruits only at breakfast make up the diet. I use a protien shake as a meal supliment for lunch.
Workouts consist of three to four days of running a week with a target length of one to two hours on ellipticals/treadmills/arctrainers to save the knees after numerous knee injuries and surgeries. Lifting is a three day program designed to focus on different core lifts. (Day 1: Olympic/plyometric - Cleans/deadlifts/etc, Day 2: Lower Body -squat based lifts and activities, Day 3: Upper body - bench/TRX based workouts).
Overall, the end goal is to be healthy so I am getting there.
#RISEnGRIND
#NObadDAYS
I quit smoking in college and subsequently gained 20 pounds (on a small frame -- it would probably be like 40 on you). I had never exercised and my diet was terrible. The cigarettes had kept me thin. It took my a good five years to really get the weight off. I changed everything. My diet (low fat, more vegetables, lean protein) and started to run and work out with light weights. It worked, and 30 years later, I still maintain a healthy diet (with an occasional cheeseburger or donut). Exercising regularly has been up and down due to kids, but I generally have persisted. You can change your life and habits permanently.
Exactly!
The crazy irony in my situation is that when I taught myself to cook so that I could eat healthier and control my ingredients, I fell in love with cooking. I ended up going to cooking school and becoming a pastry chef, of all things. I didn't gain an ounce while I was working in kitchens. I was around butter, sugar and chocolate all day, every day. It lost its forbidden quality.
Just curious why no caffine?
50 or more miles a week and averaged a 7 minute mile but that was in my 20s and 30s. I've had a lot of back, knee and hip problems but still run 3 to 4 miles every other day. MWF I concentrate on weight training. I use to bench 300 lbs and did squats and dead lifts but I ruptured my L4-L5 5 years ago and have been on the machines. I do weightless squats and concentrate more on strengthening my core.
I returned to running.
I've found my mile splits are 15 sec/mi slower for any early morning/before work runs. I'm old.
I've been doing a six day/week routine that has me doing a minute of cardio in between every set. I get my heartrate up at the beginning with 10-15 minutes on the elliptical, do my 30 or so sets of weight training, and cool down with 5-10 minutes when I'm done. All told, it's a lot of cardio and a lot of resistance training and I'm completely pooped out by the end of it because there's no rest involved.
I just missed three days in a row, though. I've been bad. I feel like a T-Rex walking around, making waves in puddles.
I'm 6'3" and I got down to my goal weight when I was 27. I then met a girl that I thought was a drinking buddy but was actually in love with me and happy to fatten me up. Months of pizza and beer every other night with her caused a 30 pound weight gain, and I've been trying to get that off and keep it off since.
unfortunately, i just spend 10 minutes reading all comments...for those that like to drink ( i am diffentialy one of them), a tip that i learned from a nutrionist is to consume 1-2oz of oliver oil prior to drinking. Dont know the exact reason, but something to do with the good fat limiting your bodies sugar level...again, works for a couple not a lot.
This guy?
When you started talking about drinking, he/she should have stopped you right there and said BAD IDEA.
I've never heard of drinking olive oil before alcohol however the sugar thing is accurate. Fat slows down the rate at which your body digests and absorbs sugar thus preventing sugar spikes and keeping your blood sugar more even. This, and the fact that it tastes like shit, is why non-fat food is stupid. Full fat ice cream is healthier and tastes far better than non-fat frozen yogurt. Ditto on just plain milk and cheese and anything else that has had it's fat artificially removed.
Teaspon of natural peanut butter tastes a lot better
Took twenty years off exercising to raise a family and focus on their needs. Ballooned to 250 pounds (I'm 6'2). Kids are out of college now and decided being fat is bullshit and started working out again. After 18 months I'm down to 190. I eat whatever I want, when I want. I'm prepared to pay for that with exercise.
I swim Mon-Wed-Fri with a light Sunday workout
2.5 miles in one hour (interval based training, high intensity aerobic, 6-8 minutes rest during the entire session). Sunday is fun day. I do about a mile and half of mostly anaerobic training (sprints) and allocate 30 minutes to get it done. These workouts are long enough to get the job done and short enough to where I'm not dreading heading to the pool or ever feel like I'm grinding.
No weights (former ACL tear, collar bone break don't play nice with weight training). I had absolutely no intention of ever competing again I just wanted to lose weight when I started. A buddy of mine convinced me to qualify for Masters Nationals, I did. I competed and I loved it. I even ran into my old Michigan coach Jon Urbanchek there (still coaching!). That alone made this entire experience infinitely more rewarding.
I've hit my fitness goals. I'm satisified with 190 going forward.
I'm jealous of your times. I consider myself to be a strong swimmer but I can't do 1.5 miles in 30 min.
That is 1:12 pace per 100 yards rounding down to 2,500 yards. That is fast. There is no way I could hold that pace for that long.
It took a while to get there. My first day back after 20+ years off I did 600 yards and practically had to be carried out of the pool. I layed on my couch motionless for hours after that. I built up into that regimen methodically over roughly 12 months.
What kind of sprint set do you do to get to 1.5 miles?
(Yards)
600 Warmup: 300 Free/100 Back/200 IM
6x100 Free Cycle: 25 85% to turn, 50 Drill, 25 85-95% build @ 1:30
6 x100 Broken Freestyle: 50 Free within :03 of best time, :30 rest, 25 100%, :10 rest, 25 100%
Total time should be within :04 - :05 of best 100 time. 1:30 rest between attempts.
500 kick sprints w/fins 50 95% 50 easy
100 cooldown
I crossfit 3-4 times a week and try to limit my sugar and grain intake with marginal success. Feeling kinda crappy and getting a slightly iffy HA1C lab score had me just cut back the sugar and grains a little bit had me lose 10 pounds which coincided with upping the crossfit from 2-3x a week to 3-4x which then had me gain 5 of it back while still moving down 2-3 holes on the belt. I'm 6'5 190 so I don't have much to lose.
Weightlift x 5 days a week
Eat paleo style diet no processed foods at all
Treadmill, elliptical, etc about 3 miles x 6 days a week
I also take about 15-20 supplements a day including a few herbal ones for anti inflammation which is the root of all evil
-cayenne pepper
-turmeric powder
-fish oil
-glucosamine
-dhea
-calcium
-b complex vitamin
-ginger extract
-niacin
With morning oatmeal I also add spirulina & cinnamon
I'm 51, take no prescription drugs and have perfect cholesterol/blood markers. Had low T for a while and raised it naturally through this regimen.
Good on you that is absolutely awesome man!
You're going to live a long time...
This is a really cool thread and I've really enjoyed reading all the responses. As for me...I'd say "better...erhhh...kind of?" The pursuit of anything in extreme is not healthy. Crossfit was a topic above and I'd say at it's base level it can be done in a healthy level but in the "extreme" not so much. That isn't a knock on it...actually sort of a compliment. Same goes for muscle building. At 5'7" and 265 pounds I wanted to get down to a more healthy 230 which meant the purposeful loss of quite a bit of muscle.
Current: 5'7" 232 pounds
BF: ~10%
Diet: Intermittend fasting and keto Sunday through Saturday morning eating about 2,700 calories with Saturday being a very (and I mean like 1,200 grams) high carb day
Training: HIIT cardio 240 minutes per week and 4 weight training sessions per week.
It's a head f*ck watching muscle go away but overall this is a more maintainable look with much less performance enhancing "supplements".
For some reason I can't post freaking pictures anymore on this site argh! Everytime I go to paste the link in between the [img] [/img] it doesn't work.
Keto diets are notorious for making muscle look smaller from water loss.
Yes they can...but you usually see that if people do not keep water and sodium high which are a must on a low/no carb diet. This picture is full blown no carbs after about 14 days before going to bed and not even after a workout.
For the love of God this is the only site I can't get pictures to post...sorry. Anyway....you are right but if you keep water and sodium high you can keep the muscles full and feel great.
thats not the reason.. Its becasue of glycogen depletion. Glycogen holds water. Carbs=Glycogen. This is why bodybuilders will have a big carb up before a show after a long time with no carbs.
thats not the reason.. Its becasue of glycogen depletion. Glycogen holds water. Carbs=Glycogen. This is why bodybuilders will have a big carb up before a show after a long time with no carbs.
Of course, however, if you keep sodium very high and water high it will mitigate the "flat" look and feel of the muscle and will increase overall performance. It's also why carb loading before a show is part of the equation but timing the water manipulations with sodium loading at the right time I believe is as if not more important than taking in a ton of carbs. Most of the guys can probably carb up on a few hundred grams of carbs and don't need near what they think and it's overall a proper timing of water and sodium that really makes thinks "pop".
I'm also one of those silly vegans (personal choice). I've never felt better.
This is why this site needs a "Misc" section on the forum. A lot of interesting information that could be shared amongst the group.
This has been one of my favorate threads in a while.