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Fitness Weekly Discussion
What have you been doing lately for your own fitness? Try out any new programs or exercises? Have any questions for others about your training? Want to vent about poor behavior in the gym? Started a new diet or have a new recipe you want to share? Anything else health and wellness related?
I had a pretty rough summer emotionally, but I finally got myself to start working out. My local gym closed in August 2022 so I got myself two adjustable dumbbells and a pull up bar. I'm following a three-day-a-week full body workout program I found online. So far, so good. On top of that I've always forced myself to walk at least 10,000 steps a day.
My main fitness "issue" (in quotes because it's not causing any health problems) is that, even as I approach 30 years old, I have severe trouble gaining weight.
I was in your boat as well. I started working out at 22 when I was 6'2" and 140lbs; weight gain was near impossible. I was working out religiously but seeing veeeery slow gains. When I first started I was also running quite a bit (around 5-10 miles every other day). I was eating 4-5000 calories a day to try and overcome the plateaus I was hitting while lifting with very little success. Then I got injured and could lift but took a break from running. My lifts went through the roof! It turned out I still wasn't eating enough for consistent muscle/weight gain. So when I resumed running I upped my calories by 500 calories a day. Depending on when I was running/lifting/other activities I ate between 3600 and 6000 calories a day. At the time I hated it because I wasn't used to eating in those quantities and found it difficult. Now I freaking love it. I can go bananas at Trader Joes and their snack isle. I don't have to choose between a burrito for lunch or a sandwich. My suggestion is to start ramping up your daily calorie intake 250-500 calories each week. You want to find the sweet spot where you're increasing strength without loading up on the weight gain. Advice I got was a pound a week or every other week (I prefer the latter). A pound is excess 3500 calories so you should be able to figure out where your sweet spot is. I started by counting calories but at this point. 13 years later, I can usually feel it out within a week or two.
My only cautionary tale here is that once you've trained yourself to increase your appetite and normalize bulk eating it is hard to go back. I still maintain a high level of activity and require a high number of calories so most of the time it's fine. But when I get injured I often forget to reassess food intake and often gain weight/find myself further out of shape than I normally would be. As I've gotten older injuries have been more frequent so I'm a little worried about what the next decade looks like. It's all manageable though.
Good luck!
I've given up (really age/wear & tear has forced me to give up) on hitting crazy PRs, sub 30 min Murphs, pushing past the 1000 lb club etc and just want to reach a decent level of fitness. Something like achieving unremarkable goals like a sub 27 min 5k and leaning out (diet is the focus here) without loosing too much strength. I want to lean more into conditioning but I don't want to adopt a running program that adds weightlifting for cross training purposes : I was hoping for a better balance.
For context, I play soccer 2x a week which is the source of my wear and tear which has led to persistent achilles pain that I can play through but will be with me forever. I lift 2-3x a week and combined 5RM for bench/squat/DL is ~800. Any one have an idea or could recommend a decent program?
I'm definitely in a similar boat, though thankfully without a persistent injury. Hitting a sub 50 minute 10k was my latest "big" achievement for my fairly modest goals, and my 5RM lifting total is hair shy of yours.
Since I'm in my late thirties, and a scientist (meaning grant-writing consumes far too much of my life): I know I'm not going to be adding too much weight to the bar, or shaving more than a couple minutes off my 10k time. However, I'm far from dead, and would like to see what I can modestly improve without the risk of hurting myself in a way that makes long-term progress and maintenance harder. My ultimate goal is to be that athletic eighty-year old that impresses people someday.
So to get back to your question: I'm interested in hearing everyone else's advice, but what I can offer as someone nearly as strong as you, but that has reached your unremarkable running goal: I use a Garmin watch. There's some good "Coach" programs on the app and watch, and it makes me kick my own ass more than I would without all the beeping. I lift 3X a week, and run in the days I'm not lifting (with one day off entirely). Essentially I'm just doing two different programs at once: one lifting program (a modified Madcow type thing, though I'm trying to find something better), and one running program.
TLDR: Six days a week, at six AM, I'm running or lifting for roughly an hour (I alternate days).
Mind sharing your running program? My distance and times were improving drastically during the covid lock downs but once gyms and leagues opened back up, I not only reinjured myself (partially due to being prescribed the wrong PT, but also because I shouldn't have pushed it) but I fell off regular, non-soccer running.
At this point I'm doing something very similar to Madcow aka big lifts but incorporating a ton of accessory exercises for injury prevention/stability purposes. I've been harping at my friends (we're all around your age) to do the same as we're all busy with work , some with kids, and our ability to exercise really needs to be focused on making sure we're not hobbling around in 20 years.
Embarrassingly enough, I usually just follow what Garmin tells me to do. The two extreme ends are "speed repeats" and "long kind of easy" runs. Basically it's Speed v. Endurance. I've been doing more of the speed repeats lately, so it hasn't been a 50/50 split of these two main categories.
The speed repeats are either: A) alternating 800m running @ near-max speed and 3 minutes walking, until you feel like you want to keel over (after warmup and cool downs, it's about an hour); or B) 7 minutes running fast, 3 minutes slightly less fast, also for about an hour (including a warmup and cool down). Those are the runs that get my heart into the "Max" or "Threshold" states (for me, 166+ and 150+ beats per minute, respectively).
The "long but kind of easy" is just running for an hour, at a speed that puts my heart comfortably in the "OK yes I'm definitely exercising" range, e.g. "aerobic" (for me that's 130-150 bpm). I'll occasionally push this one to an hour and a half.
Finally: when I feel like I'm overdoing it, I'll do an easy half hour run instead of either of those.
Aw man, getting flash backs to soccer training and interval runs but it makes sense. Thanks for the info, looks like I know what I'll be doing at the end of my workout today.
Edit : I did some "longer" interval runs after deadlifting and doing posterior chain movements. I did not enjoy it at the time but it was a great recommendation. Cheers and thank you.
Christ almighty these weeks keep getting shorter. Hi tildes fitness pals!! I've just been running and lifting this week. The rec center pool was closed for maintenance which was a downer, but my run ON Monday and Wednesday felt so good. Getting past that first 20min run was such a hump that I felt like I was floating! I'm still working on pacing and not gassing myself out the first mile, but I've gotten to sub 14min miles and that really just tickles me pink.
Also I totally lied when I said I could leg press 225lbs, I'm so sorry my friends. I weight lift at Chuze, and they have machines that are part of a circuit and ones that aren't. My sister and I had been using the leg press that was part of the circuit since that was usually open. Well, we tried the regular leg press machines and they were so. Much. Heavier!! I. Had to drop down to 160 initially because what the fuck? It was so hard to get the initial press out and just felt a metric ton heavier! I am annoyed that that even happens. I can only assume there's some mechanical differences between the regular machines and the circuit ones š
I have a 5mi hike planned this Saturday that I'm looking forward to. I would personally like to get there Hella early but my partner isn't a morning person lol. It's been a good week overall and I feel great that I've been sticking to it these past few months.
I completed my August challenge! I challenged myself to run every day in august, do one other workout every day, be strict about IF and not drink any alcohol for the month. I did skip a couple days in the middle when my back pain was flaring up to avoid injury, but I did it!
I lost: 2kg, 3cm around my waist, anxieties about running more often, some anxiety in general
I gained: the ability to do a workout consisting only of lunge variations (I historically suck at lunges), a more positive outlook, the view of myself as a runner, a few wrinkles (I assume this is unrelated but Iām still annoyed by it)
Before this I was running 3 times a week and doing one Pilates session. Going forward I plan to run 4-5 times a week, strength train 4 times a week, and continue 1 Pilates session.
Overall it was a really great month! I recommend setting yourself a tougher challenge if youāve been doing the same routine for a while. Itās made me see myself in a much more positive light :)
Great to hear! And I'm especially glad to hear you took days off to avoid injury. Rest is extremely important for us but often neglected.
You are a runner! That is earned just by running. Not by running fast and not by running far but only by running.
Stick to your plan and you will have a lot of success!
Thank you! Flexibility in your goals and aims is so important. Our bodies have too many variables to act completely predictably, which means we have to adapt for how our bodies are each day
That's amazing! Great job sticking to it and trying to push yourself! I find myself having somewhat of a hard time pushing myself like I used to be able to. I still do a bit, but I don't have quite the motivation of when I was younger lol.
How do you like pilates? I've been considering adding it to my routine, it seems like a good full-body kinda workout.
Thank you! I find my motivation is much lower than when I was younger, but my discipline is a lot higher - I consistently workout even when I donāt want to. I also have less of the āall or nothingā mindset, so I can allow myself a compromise. For example if I donāt feel like doing it because Iām extra tired or sore Iāll give myself permission to just do half the workout, or lower the weights or whatever, because I know that for me itās the habit that I need to stick to and even a single day off will mean Iām more likely to take days off in future.
I love Pilates and credit it for a lot of my pain reduction from arthritis. I do it at my Physio office so they have full knowledge of my weak areas and give me a personalised program, and itās only a group of 3. Iāve never tried the large classes where everyone does the same routine but I think if your body is generally healthy itās probably pretty great! Iād recommend trying a couple of classes and seeing how you like it :)
Pretty typical week of just putting in the work and trusting the process. I did find a new exercise I really like: snatch grip romanian deadlifts. It really targets the hinge movement of the deadlift. Another silver lining is that this week is going more smoothly than last week as volume recovery comes online.
I've also hired a powerlifting coach to help me program around work stress and to reach for some goal. I'd like to get squat and deadlift to 500lb/227.5 before year end and aim for a 400lb bench in the next couple years.
I joined a gym with my partner this week. He has a long experience lifting but I don't. In the past I did running and yoga but could never seem to stick with weights. I do love the idea of it, but I can never quite get how to do it. I feel like my problem was I would go too hard too fast and inevitably burnout.
We've done 2 sessions and I made sure to keep it easy. I'm not as sore as I'd like to be but I know that's a short term pleasure that doesn't help my long term benefit.
Anyways, excited to finally do it!
I'm also someone who has recently started adding weights to my routine, and it can be tough! For years it was cycling, then adding yoga and pilates, and only in the last year or so have I added strength training as a deliberate part of the plan. One thing that has helped me has been thinking in compound movements, as I get bored with set after set of bicep curls (for example) and don't feel like I get as much out of it. But when adding a bicep curl + press to a side lunge, it becomes more challenging and interesting, plus adds more function to my daily movements. I hope you keep with it and find fulfillment! Best of luck!
Thank you so much for the encouragement! You seem to have a great ethic of slowly building and adding on things. I hope it works out for you as well!
I've been doing ATG aka knees over toes workout for lower body and trying to do that 3x a week. I'll work on a push and a pull day in between those days. I've been doing the math stuff since around January of this year and seen some decent improvement with my knee pain. I definitely feel stronger in my legs.
Nutrition wise I think I would be paying more attention to how I'm eating.
Been back in the gym since February, after several years off. Started with couch to 5k and then started doing Reddit PPL.
I'm 20lbs down from the start of the year, 205 to 180. I think I'm going to keep going until I'm at 175, I just want to trim as much fat as possible.
Haven't been able to be as consistent with my son off for summer, but he starts school in a week and I'll have way more time for the gym.
I'm planning to start bulking up at that point, I'm tall so I'll probably have to shoot for around 3200 calories. I've never been this consistent with the gym for so long, and 'trusting the process' is definitely working so far.
I'm excited to see how my body changes when I start bulking, I'm 33 but definitely still have noob gains to earn.
Do you guys that use Strava actually follow anyone? I guess a friend of family member might be nice for some people. But I think itās be cool to follow someone off running/biking/whatever in exotic places and shared good pictures of it. Or being creative with their runs, like running past all the sightseeing spots in a city, or running marathons in all 50 states, etc. The people on top of the leader boards seem to have a decent number of followers, but the content isnāt that compelling.