Hi guys! New to Nerd Fitness, looking forward to hanging out here.

[BearComplex]

Hi everyone! Allow me to introduce myself, you can call me Bear! I found this website after the articles involving Staci's transformation, and they are a good tool to help me get my girlfriend into lifting heavy objects and putting them back down. If any of you lifters have a girlfriend who is "afraid of getting bulky", you know how challenging it can be to convince them that isn't the case. 

 

I live in the great region of the Pacific Northwest, USA. It gets dark and rainy here often so chilling inside with some coffee, whiskey, board games, a good book, and heavy barbells is the name of the game. I do crossfit and try to get in extra powerlifting (bench, overhead press, squat, and deadlift) and weightlifting (snatch, clean and jerk) when I can. I am a huge star wars nerd, reading every new book that's come out since Disney bought them, as well as board games (current fav is Pandemic). I get too lazy and sedentary when I play video games so I cut those out of my life. 

 

I have a pretty interesting past, growing up overweight and was obese at 270 lbs at age 18. Stayed that way until I got into my doctorate program and met some guys who changed my life through running and hiking. Went from not being able to run a lap around a track to running a half marathon (in hilly Austin, TX) in 1:40. School and life got in the way and I yo-yo'ed back up in weight until I completed my residency and decided that I wanted to hit the gym a bit, try to be less "skinny-fat". Hit a body building type routine and found some decent success but something was missing. Found Crossfit when I moved to PNW which opened the doors to the powerlifting/weightlifting world as well as the intense circuit training CF is known for. Haven't looked back and am excited to share my knowledge of multiple different types of fitness, my experiences with successes followed by failures followed by success, and just being nerdy with a bunch of people who would enjoy doing a bear complex then rolling a D20. 

 

The thing that is fun about this website is the Guilds, and I am torn between the Warriors and the Rangers. I relate to the Warriors a lot but I see that the Rangers are where all the crossfitters hang out. Any advice would be appreciated. Nice to meet ya'll!

[GoldLynx]

Good to meet you, BearComplex! Dope username, btw. You have an awesome origins story. I am a girl, and I have a friend (also a girl) who is afraid of looking "manly." Tell your girlfriend to read Staci's story (it's on the NF blog). That warrior can deadlift over 400 and she doesn't look a bit manly, just toned and healthy. I've recently started lifting. It's actually supposed to be a good way to lose weight, since muscle burns more calories than fat does. This helped motivate me to start lifting.

I understand your Guild struggle. I had the same problem; eventually, I decided not to be part of any specific guild. I made up my own and keep it to myself; that way I can make up all the rules, techniques, and strategies. It sounds silly, but it worked for me. Another option is for each six-week challenge to pick your guild based on your goals for the next six weeks. Hope this helps.

-GoldLynx

[HedgeMage]

Greetings, Bear!

 

While I used my hacker-land nickname here, my Army/SAR buddies called me "Mama Bear", so I'm sure we'll be fast friends.

 

Tell your GF not to fret: I've been lifting for about 1.5 years now, and for the first year of that I was (without my knowledge) suffering from a hormone disorder that, among other things, had my free testosterone and steroid levels way higher than they should be for a woman (frankly, my steroid levels would have been questionable for a man)...and I still didn't bulk up.  It's not what our bodies are built for.

 

As to guild choice...I lift heavy 4x/week, but I'm a Ranger instead of a Warrior because that's not all I do.  Rangers gotta ranger...it's a crowd that groks moving heavy things and the extra conditioning I did to prep for working at 14k feet without acclimation time and my trying to balance strength goals with endurance and skills work (martial arts and SAR) and the myriad other things I may be training on or for at any given moment.  Max strength is my base, but I was attracted to the Rangers because I have so many things going on.  On the other hand, if you are laser-beam-focused on lifting heavy (especially if your goals are more around bodybuilding than max-functional-strength-minimal-bulk), you may fit better into the Warriors.  Ironic, since RL fighters need to be well-rounded and avoid bulk.

 

You have plenty of time to hang out and see what guild best fits your goals, and remember that you can move guilds as your goals change!