Rubducky

Sick today and I think my energy could be put to better use fighting infection rather than cardio. Also, I drank some hot tea to feel a bit better. It was made with water, but I don't know if it counts since I wanted to drink just water and milk. So, I guess I technically can;t meet my goals today, but it feels unfair to punish myself for illness. Oh well, rules be rules.

Pooped. That's all. And full of water! Todays Workout Assisted Pistols Squats/One legged Squats - 5x5 Diamond Pushups - 5x5 Inverted Rows - 4x5/ 1x5 Hip Pushups - 5x5 L-Sit tuck - 30 secs x 5 Chin Ups - 4x5, 1x4 Wall Assisted Angled Handstand - 35 secs x 4, 18 secs x1 (I got help to get more vertical on this last one. Much harder.)

Sounds cost effective yet . . . effective! I tried to use two cloth belts on my pull up bar but they were obviously not hard and kind of hurt to hold onto, so that's a no for those. We'll see what I can come up with.

I'm getting some gymnastic rings soon, so hopefully L-Sit work and all sorts of stability stuff will help my stabilizers get strong enough to where I don't need to hold a pole or something for pistols >.>

I'm willing to do that if it helps me achieve strength, stability, and body control more effectively. Plus, if I do dips, I can progress into Diamond pushups without worrying too much about not getting a chest workout. Can you circuit train effectively for strength or do you have to do one exercise one set at a time with rest in between?

Thanks for the tip Waldo. Currently, my feet automatically rotate outward as I go past parallel, and then it becomes much harder to not fall backwards if I keep them only slightly rotated outward. I'm hoping I can work up from "sitting in a deep goblet squat for a long time" to "sitting in a deep squat a long time" on mobility days. The weight in goblets helps keep me balanced and not falling back I guess.

So, instead of making a new thread, I guess I could ask here since I'm basically doing the workout we discussed. Should I incorporate dips into my workout at some point or will pushups cover everything fine? Right now I am doing Hip Pushups, and considering starting into Diamond, but I want to make sure I work my chest too because I know Diamond hits your triceps mainly.

Today's workout was basically the same as Monday's. It took me forever though because I'm experimenting with doing all the sets of each exercise first and resting a few minutes in between in order to have optimal efficiency. Took alot longer than circuit training, but the workout went well and water/ cardio goals are fully on track as well! Today's Workout Hip Pushups - 4x5, 1xFailure Assisted Pistol Squats 4x5/ Bodyweight Squats 1x Failure Chin Ups - 4x4, 1x3 (failure) Angled Wall Handstand Hold - 30 secs x 5 L-Sit (knees) - 20 secs x 2/ 30 secs x 3

MY problem is I have the strength to do it but not the balance and ankel/hip flexibility. If i do an assisted pistol-squat I'm fine, but I can't even deep squat with my feet shoulder width yet without falling backwards. Working on ankle and hip flexibility by doing goblet squats and mobility work on cardio days, but since I still want to gain strength and muscle, I'll just do assisted pistols for now I guess.

To build muscle (which I assume is the weight you want), you need to strength train. Whether you like lifting weights or using body weight, find a method of strength training you love, make it challenging, do it 3 times a week, eat plenty of protein (around 1-1.5g per lb. of body weight. Around 100 grams for you), and eat plenty of clean foods. Dairy, fruit, nuts, olive oil, vegetables, whole grains, and meat are my staples. Try to cut out really sugary stuff (I limit my sugar intake mainly to fruit and the most natural, less sugary, yet still tasty yogurt I can find), bad fats like deep fried foods and cooking oils filled with chemicals, and non-whole grains like potatoes, white rice, white bread, ect. I personally still eat whole grains, but I get most of my carbs from fruit. A lot of people around here like the Paleo diet, which eliminates grains altogether. Like types of exercise, your best diet is largely a function of what works for you, is healthy, and sustainable. To get a better handle on how many calories you should consume a day to gain weight, try to calculate your calorie needs for maintenance using this site or a similar one: http://www.livestrong.com/article/98116-calculate-basal-metabolic-rate/ Then increase your caloric intake by 15-35% of your maintenance and adjust accordingly based on results every few weeks measured by weight and body dimensions. Hope that helps little bit.

Sorry for the lack of updates all, I was at my relative's house and didn't check back in all weekend! So Friday I had a workout similar to Wednesday's. Wrought with difficulty. Over the weekend I did my cardio and stretches and did well on water, so maintaining A's there! Today, however, I decided to try body weight stuff and I REALLY enjoyed it. It was challenging and I can feel it after I'm done. Even though my goal was for the Stronglifts workout, I decided I'm not going to limit myself to these challenge goals if they get in the way of my fitness journey/exploration and how I feel about what's the best workout for me. So I am going to change the goal to doing "Strength Training" MWF. If that disqualifies my challenge from winning that's cool, because this is more to help myself grow than to win something. At any rate, I feel like this BW workout was fun and challenging, and I didn't even need any equipment (good gym equipment or my stuff! ) Today's Workout Hip Pushups - 5x5 Split Squats - 3x5/ Assisted Pistol Squats 2x5 Close-Grip Chin Ups - 2x2, 1x4, 2x2 Angled Wall Handstand Hold - 30 secs x 5 L-Sit (knees) - 20 secs x 5 Stretching - 5 min

So, I'm thinking about getting some rings cause my pull-up bar gives me tennis elbow, but I still want to do pull ups, in addition to possibly working on some other body weight stuff requiring such equipment. My question is, what rings should I get? They seriously range from like $25-$100 and I honestly don't know if more expensive equals better in this case. So, body weight peoples, what rings do you prefer?

Thanks Caution. I actually just got through building my rack. I just don't know. I think I need to scale way back on the weight maybe and work on my form. Because, after this workout at least, I feel like I've been put through a cement truck, and not in a good way (if there is a good way to feel like that...) I just hope my Friday workout goes well and I can come up with a home gym solution that doesn't kill my body and spirit.

Good job! I'm glad you are progressing well and it's really cool that instead of saying "I'll just forget about my diet Thanksgiving" you are making an awesome Thanksgiving dinner that fits into it AND is tasty!

Today was my worst training day in probably 6 months. Why you ask? Well, school is closed for Thanksgiving, meaning I have no access to the gym equipment. I have some equipment here though, so I assumed I could just pick up my workout here. Wrong. Everything went wrong. My form, my reps, my weight, everything. I achieved the goal of forcing myself to do the Stronglifts workout to the best of my ability. Unfortunately, the equipment I currently possess sabotaged me. . . Squats. Oh squats. First, the bar we have is only 22 lbs and between 5-6 ft. long. Not only this, I have no squat rack, so I had to set the bench to its highest setting and kind of squat the weight out of the rack. . . Seeing as it was a totally different environment than my school gym, with a new bar, unfamiliar racks, carpet instead of a solid floor, my form was terrible. I taped myself and saw my knees go slightly in front of my toes a few times, I barely missed making parallel a few times, and even was having such difficulty that I had to lower the weight further down than my last workout. This wasn't because the weight difficulty, but I simply could not function at my best in this setting with my worse equipment. Bench. . . our bench press stand is so narrow that I can't take a wide enough grip to ensure my arms hit 90 degrees when the bar is on my chest. This, combined with my general frustration made me unable to progress in weight. Again, I had to lower the weight. I guess without anyone around to spot me and all this new equipment I just couldn't do it. Rows, my bar and weights make it so low to the ground that I can't maintain good form and still do rows while returning the bar to the ground each time. The weight was good for rows, a two lb improvement, but the poor form and stupid unbalanced equipment meant I couldn't count it as a victory. Basically, I'm extremely discouraged. What am I going to do when I get out of school and can't access good workout equipment or afford a gym membership? Is this what working out the rest of thanksgiving break and Christmas break is going to look like? I feel like I've taken a major step back, and I'm starting to rethink my fitness methodology. I don't like being dependent on good quality equipment that I can't afford and can only sometimes access. I may have to look into body weight stuff after this next challenge, because I just can't afford a good quality bar and Olympic weights. I could buy a set of rings, or even a basic power tower for less than those things. I don't know. Just feel like today was a failure. I met the goals, I just sucked while doing it. To top it all off, I know my form was bad. I can feel it in my joints right now. Today's Workout Squats: 2x5 (42) 1x4 (92) 1x3 (112) 3x5 (152) 2x5 (142) Bench: 2x5 (42) 1x3 (92) 1x2 (112) 1x2 (152) 5x5 (112) Rows: 5x5 (112) Close-Grip Chins (With some yummy Tendonitis cause I have a straight bar and not a curved one): 1x3 Goblet Squats for Stretching