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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'm in my early 40s and have slowly been realizing I can't keep going like I have been for the past two decades. Drinking 6-10 IPAs every single night and stuffing my face with munchies has put me in the worst shape of my life. I've been riding that ectomorph metabolism, but it'll only take me so far.
Tomorrow will be 3 weeks sober!! I'm tracking all macros/calories with MyFitnessPal with a 1000 calorie deficit, and I ride my indoor bike to burn about 400 calories a day 5 days a week. So far in these 3 weeks I've gone from 166 lbs to 158!
I feel amazing and don't even miss beer anymore. Last time I did this I continued to drink and planned every meal around my guaranteed 800-1000 calorie beer intake, and it was so exhausting I gave up after only a month - this time I hope to carry it long enough to finally get rid of all this visceral fat that's making me look like a goblin.
Congratulations! That's a great achievement and I hope you're feeling the benefits already.
Is that 1000 a week or per day? Per day that's a big deficit. I hope you aren't planning to cut that aggressively for an extended period of time. When I hit plateaus I find easing back to maintenance calories for a couple weeks then going back into a conservative deficit usually works well. Visceral fat in particular can be a long road.
Giving up drinking is such a great way to live healthier. I've been in those phases where drinking was excessive. Removing it or severely cutting back has been such a good life improvement.
The deficit is per day, and yes it's literally draining. I'm flying out to visit a lady friend and I had 3 weeks to lose as much as I could - I definitely plan to decrease, and eventually ditch, the deficit once my belly starts to better suit the rest of my frame.
I was never able to imagine why anybody would choose not to get drunk every night - while I definitely still wish I could, the many small benefits of sobriety are a huge help!
Ah yes, visiting lady friends, the most potent of motivation! Happy to hear it!
Congrats. I will not drink with you today.
I've started going to the gym 4 times a week now for full on powerlifting. My left shoulder has recently been bothering me when I do shoulder press, dunno why that's the case though.
Does anyone have any suggestions for pre-workout? I've been using the Boba Tea Protein pre-workout but I feel like it's not enough caffeine?
Love to hear more people doing powerlifting! You can look up some rotator cuff/shoulder rehab exercises. I have the same issue with overhead pressing. Usually it's a combination of tendons getting pinched and weaknesses in some muscles causing compensatory changes in the movement. Along with conditioning/prehab stuff I just keep it at whatever weight is comfortable through the rep range.
Do you like beta alanine in your pre? It makes some people itchy/hot/uncomfortable. If you are okay with it I like Ghost pre-workout.
Haha I used to do powerlifting (in an amateur sense) in college! Seeing those numbers back then vs now is kinda depressing ngl. I'm finally back to around 900ish for my total compound lifts, the last 100 is gonna be rough, but I'm gonna probably switch to bodybuilding after I hit the 1000 pound club. I do like the "big number go up" aspect of going to the gym though lol.
Good advice though! I'll take a look, I feel like it's definitely important, I'm gonna do that and maybe ask my medical friends to double check something isn't wrong with me lol.
I didn't really get into pre-workout until recently so I'm down to try! I've heard really mixed things about Ghost Pre, but I'll try it, it has some fun flavors haha.
That's a great goal. It's always weird coming back after time away and seeing the road ahead that you've travelled once before. have you seen that companies like Rogue and BoostCamp are doing 1k club "competitions"? The rogue one has a bunch of annoying rules but the BoostCamp one seems a bit more chill. I think you get a -shirt or something once you do it.
Definitely a good medical professional of a PT is gonna be able to give much more targeted advice!
Honestly the best way to go would probably be to mix your own but I'm too lazy for that. I generally lift in the evening so I can't have anything stimy or I'm unable to sleep on time. So pre is reserved for Saturday sessions which fortunately lines up with my heaviest squats.
Oh interesting! I'll have to take a look at that, I feel like intrinsic motivation is more useful to me though haha.
Yeah same LOL I'll try the Ghost pre-workout and see how that goes, I've also gotten recommendations for C4 and (later down the line) the CBum one, but I think I just have to try. I like lifting in the mornings so I feel like finding a good one is imperative.
First week back under a barbell. After a meet it's typical to take a week away to allow for bones/spine to recover.
Oh boy does everything feel heavy again. Three weeks ago I could squat 190kg for 4 pretty easily; this week 160kg felt about that heavy on my back. Still moved fast though so I think it's just a mental reconditioning. This week will be some moderate volume work before we get back into singles and doubles since we have about 5 weeks until the second meet. Anyway, these are the peaks and troughs, staying consistent is the key.
Fell of my training plan. Race day is beginning of May and I am bad out of shape after this winter. I love running, but at the moment it is something I should be doing more often. Those are the times when it is not fun.
Dang. Will go out now and run.
I’ve gotten back to a good place in terms of running after a bit of a hiatus, where I am running consistently and tossing some longer runs (for me) into the mix. Love feeling sore after a good run, but have yet to really get that runners high during.
I’d like to get into some type of weight training, honestly just to improve my physique a bit. I always find the gym pretty intimidating as I really don’t know where to start in terms of a routine, nor do I know proper form for most machines or free weights.