Reaching for the stars (stars being pull up bar)

[K-Prime]

Hi gang! I've been checking out this site/forum off and on for about a year, and finally decided to bite the bullet and sign up for an account. 

 

I've always been the overweight lazy kid, coming up with all sorts of excuses to justify why I couldn't keep up with my athletic friends. I'm also, however, pretty competitive and have a lot of athletic guy friends that I always wanted to keep up to. I dabbled back and forth with weight training in my 20s, but never stuck with it and never adjusted my diet to go along with it. 

 

Once I hit my 30s, a few things changed. My goddaughter was born (she's 3.5 now), and I have a burning desire to keep up with her and be a good example. I also got tired of not being able to shop in women's regular sizes, and my almost-mid-life-crisis put the fear of my family history in me (heart disease, cancer, addiction, diabetes). 

 

I started running 2 years ago with a couch-to-5K program, and by the end of the summer had lost 15 pounds and could run for 30 minutes without stopping. Then I started adding in some weight training with machines at the gym, but found that SUPER boring. I also learned how to cook, and began to pay way more attention to what I was putting in my body.

I still run 5 times a week, and have now started a weight training program that I'm crazy about. I'm happy with my weight (5'3", started at 165 lbs and now down to 140 lbs) but want to get my body fat down to 21-22%. I also want to be able to do 5 unassisted pull ups. I blame this on watching way too many adventure shows and having a paranoid fear of hanging off the edge of a building and falling to my untimely death. 

 

And that's my long, rambling story! This seems like a fantastic community, and while I love my friends, they're not really into fitness at all so don't want to hear me brag about adding another 5 lbs to my squats. I'm glad to have found this place, and look forward to joining in the enthusiasm. 

[TheMormonRebel]

Hey there pal! Welcome welcome!

[Solstice Tiger]

Hi K-Prime! I'm new here too 

 

I know what you mean! I thought quicksand would be a much bigger problem due to how often it figured into TV shows and the like.

[K-Prime]

Hi K-Prime! I'm new here too 

 

I know what you mean! I thought quicksand would be a much bigger problem due to how often it figured into TV shows and the like.

Thanks! And high five on your avatar. I'm a massive Matt Fraction/Kelly Sue DeConnick fan, and love what he's done with the character. 

[Solstice Tiger]

Thanks! And high five on your avatar. I'm a massive Matt Fraction/Kelly Sue DeConnick fan, and love what he's done with the character. 

 

Thanks! I love the Fraction Hawkeye comics too and I've discovered a startling number of people on these forums who do also. It's fabulous Clint Barton is my personal motivation to get my ass up and going. Working so far!

[K-Prime]

Thanks! I love the Fraction Hawkeye comics too and I've discovered a startling number of people on these forums who do also. It's fabulous Clint Barton is my personal motivation to get my ass up and going. Working so far!

I LOVE the idea of your motivation being a non-powered superhero. It's brilliant and I don't know why I didn't think of it before. 

[Solstice Tiger]

I LOVE the idea of your motivation being a non-powered superhero. It's brilliant and I don't know why I didn't think of it before. 

 

It's proving to be pretty motivational, too! Join me on the non-superpoweredhero bandwagon!

 

Since my parents did not have the foresight to drop me in a vat of toxic waste or expose me to radiation when I was small, I'll have to make it without superpowers. Drat.

[K-Prime]

It's proving to be pretty motivational, too! Join me on the non-superpoweredhero bandwagon!

 

Since my parents did not have the foresight to drop me in a vat of toxic waste or expose me to radiation when I was small, I'll have to make it without superpowers. Drat.

YES. My love of Batgirl can finally come into play! Especially since it's Barbara Gordon again, the true Batgirl (man, comics get confusing sometimes).

I briefly considered trying to find a spider to bite me, but then my arachnophobia kicked in and I decided to stick with your original suggestion. Much better for my psyche.

[Solstice Tiger]

YES. My love of Batgirl can finally come into play! Especially since it's Barbara Gordon again, the true Batgirl (man, comics get confusing sometimes).

I briefly considered trying to find a spider to bite me, but then my arachnophobia kicked in and I decided to stick with your original suggestion. Much better for my psyche.

 

Aw yeah! Batgirl seems really awesome

 

And I think it does a little less lasting emotional damage to just do the work. Must be traumatizing to get spider-bit or irradiated or toxic-waste-dumped.....