MattMars

Ha! That's funny. I grew up in St. George too. Lived there for like 13 years. What year did you graduate?

Provo. You live in Utah too?

Hey guys! So, I did my first challenge one year ago tomorrow. I got through like 4 or 5 weeks of it and then life blew up. Here I am one year later. In the last year my wife and I moved cross country from Maryland to Utah. New jobs, new life, but it has only been an improvement from where we were. We are very happy here and happy with where life is headed! I also didn't gain much weight over the last year. Maybe 5 pounds? I am pretty happy about that because stressful situations tend to make me want to eat the world twice over. Yes, the whole world, twice. I attribute much of my success in keeping off the 25 pounds I lost 14 months or so ago to what I learned here on NF and in my first challenge one year ago. But now that life has settled down and I'm one year older (27 as of 3 days ago), I am determined to get back into shape! Here in Utah we have a lot of friends that are in their early 20's and in the best shape of their life. I don't wanna be the fat old married guy this summer that doesn't wanna take off his shirt to play Ultimate Frisbee. Or the one lagging behind on the thousands of beautiful hikes that Utah has to offer. I am a very confident outgoing guy, and very healthy emotionally and mentally. I want to feel as good about my body as I do about the rest of me. That probably sounds extremely conceded but its not meant to be... or is it? MAIN QUEST: Get skinnier! Look better! Play more! Side Quest #1: Gym 3 days a week. Side Quest #2: Eat at least one vegetable each day and stay within my daily allotted caloric intake. 2000 or a little less. Side Quest #3: Cut at least 5 lbs or 1% body fat while lifting heavier every week. Life Quest: Read the Bible daily! Also I want to live the title of this main quest. Get Skinny, look better and play more! My wife and I live in one of the most outdoorsy states in the U.S. and we stay inside playing video games way to often. I want to set a specific goal that I can stick to for this one: - Every Monday (usually our day off) do at least one active thing outside. Look forward to getting to know you all. Lets do this! - Matt

Sooooo... I failed the last half of this pretty hard. Life fell apart, so did I. But I do feel better with everything I accomplished. I will still post some before/after pics. I do look better!

DAY 24: Power Cleans: 5x5 @ 115 High Bar Squat: 5x5 @ 225 Bench Press: 5x5 @ 125 Bicep Curls: 3x10 @ 25 Lat Pull Downs: 3x8 @ 120 DAY 26: Deadlift: 5x5 @ 225 High Bar Squat: 5x5 @ 225 Over Head Press: 5x5 @ 115 Seated Rows: 3x10 @ 120 Lat Pull Downs: 3x10 @ 120

So yeah, this past week has been hectic as can be. I have finally snagged a few minutes to post! The wife and I have our eye on 2 prospective places to move in to. One is pretty much a guaranteed option. It's a decent, cheap apartment in the ghetto. I hate the neighborhood, but the place isn't bad. The one we REALLY want though, is about 30 minutes from here. It is much closer to our new jobs. Out in the woods, near a lake, peace and quiet on about 3 acres. We meet with the landlord Thursday. She wants to meet our dogs to make sure they're not totally monsters, which they're not. And if she likes us and them, we move in on Friday or Saturday! If it doesn't work out, we will snag that ghetto apartment and move in this weekend as well. Either way, we will have a place to live. So that is a relief. However, moving out has been super stressful. If the wife and I aren't at work, we are home packing and cleaning. Up at 6am pack/clean till work, get home and get back to packing, then to bed. Rinse and repeat. Ugh. Not looking forward to this week. =/ The workouts have been great, when I can find time to fit them in. I got to the gym only twice last week. But I figured it was better than nothing. This week I am shooting for at least twice. I doubt it will happen though since I am moving all week =/. Since I have been missing some workouts, I have tightened up the diet a bit and tried to get in cardio in whatever I am doing. Packing boxes? Grab items hard and fast and move quickly. Cleaning? Scrub hard and fast. It seems to be helping. Hopefully by this weekend we will be moved in and all good to go. We start the new jobs Monday, and the resort we got hired at has gym for employees! Woot! So I am planning on working out before or after work, whichever is more convenient for my new schedule. Heres to big changes!

^This.

Good luck with the new diet, girl!

DAYS 19 - 23: Sooooooo yeah... My life sort of exploded over last 5 days. Which is why I have sucked on my updates. I missed one day at the gym and 2 days of running because of it! Which I am really pissed about because I was doing so good. My wife and I lost our job, our apartment, and had to face all the drama that came along with it. Basically, we manage a retail store for a good friend of mine. He owns it, and my wife and I live in the apartment built above the store. About a week ago I discovered he was trying to sell the business. Which is fine, its his to sell. But he didn't have the balls to be honest with me about it. He was trying to hide it from me until it sold, and was just planning on firing us. I found out from another friend that he was selling it, confronted him, and he admitted it. He didn't really have much to say for himself, despite us being friends for the last 10 years. We ended up just quitting right then and there. It wasn't really a "rage quit" per-say. I mean, he didn't end my Killing Spree or anything. But my wife and I both realized it was time to move on. Fortunately, we have a lot of friends that love us, and were willing to help us find new jobs. One of my friends put in a good word for us at this resort he works at. And we both got hired there within a couple of days. It was a pretty awesome experience to have everyone jump on the opportunity to help us like that. In the end, we were only jobless for like 5 minutes... lol. My wife and I both got hired at this upscale resort called Nemacolin. It's just outside Pittsburgh. She got on as a server at a 4 star restauraunt, and I got hired as a supervisor at a separate 5 diamond restaurant. So it worked out. We are still stuck with the task of finding an apartment closer to our new job that allows pets in less than 2 weeks. =/ However, I am confident it will all work out. All in all, it was an incredibly stressful week. But I think we came out all right. Now I just need to get back on track with my work outs. I'm very disappointed in myself for letting it slip. =/

Thanks fellas. I will grab a video this week and post it for some form advice! DAY 15: Deadlift: 5x5 @ 215 High Bar Squat: 5x5 @ 215 Over Head Press: 5x5 @ 115 Shrugs: 3x10 @ 50 Assisted Pull Ups: 3x10 DAY 16: Did my HIIT Sprints. DAY 17: Power Cleans: 5x5 @ 115! Finally! High Bar Squat: 5x5 @ 220 Bench Press: 5x5 @ 125 Bicep Curls: 3x10 @ 25 Lat Pull Downs: 3x8 @ 120 DAY 18: Got up and did my HIIT sprints this morning before work, despite my hatred for this cold weather, lol.

Hey, at least you're kicking butt on your fitness goals! Also, why not make diet one of your goals? These challeneges are all about bettering yourself in areas where you struggle. It's just my opinion, but if it were me I would kick out the one goal I am doing best on and insert the diet goal I am struggling with. I don't think anyone would hang you over that.

Thanks Loren! DAY 13: Power Cleans: 5x5 @ 110 (have not been able to raise the weight on this yet due to my terrible form, lol) High Bar Squat: 5x5 @ 210 Bench Press: 5x5 @ 125 (stuck at this weight until my form improves. when I went up to 130 last time my form went way south) Bicep Curls: 2x10 @ 25 Hammer Curls: 2x10 @ 25 Assisted Pull Ups: 3x10 DAY 14: Went on a jog with the wife and puppies! It wasn't HIIT... but it was far more enjoyable. I will be heading to the gym later for some dead lifts, squats and over head press! Quick question: It has been so long since I've lifted weights, I just wanna make sure I'm making the right choices. Am I correct in assuming I shouldn't up my weight until I get my form down? I mean, I know with the SL 5x5 program you're supposed to up your weight every time. But if my form is terrible, the extra weight will just hinder me, right?

DAY 11: Over Head Press: 5x5 @ 105, High Bar Squat: 5x5 @ 205 Dead Lift: 5x5 @ 205 Shrugs: 3x10 @ 45 Assisted Pull Ups: 3x10 (I kinda did 1 real dead hang pull up, lol) Power Cleans: 2x5 @ 110 (form practice) So I did something pretty dumb, but it ended up pretty awesome. I totally did the math wrong on the weights I was putting on. Which raised my dead lift by 15lbs and my squats by 10lbs... lol. But I totally lifted thinking it was only a 5lb increase! And I didn't struggle either. Just goes to show its all mental. DAY 12: Got up and ran my HIIT sprints this morning. I am really trying to hang in there with these. But I am starting to think it might be to much along with my lifts. Might have to switch to LISS running. But I am going to do my best to not give up on it!

Haha. Good job KW! Way to hang in there.

I did! It was wondeful, haha. DAY 8: HIIT sprints. Took the dogs with me. Great excercise for them. DAY 9: Bench Press: 2x5 @ 130, 3x5 @ 125 High Bar Squat: 5x5 @ 195 Power Cleans: 5x5 @ 110. I dropped the weight cause I was struggling with form. Still struggled at this weight. Might have to go lower. Bicep Curls: 2x8 @ 30 Calf Raises: 3x10 @ 100 Lat Pull Downs: 3x10 @ 115 DAY 10: So I was supposed to get up and run this morning, but it is an absolute blizzard outside here in Western Maryland! Some huge storm that is hitting the east coast right now. So now I have to figure out something to do when I gett off work that is equal to HIIT sprints. I am thinking stairs. I have a nice flight of stairs in my house. Thinking of just running them for 15 minutes or so.

Thanks, Loren! DAY 7: Got up and went to church this morning. Now I've got a nice day off. Looking forward to not lifting today! Lol.

Woot! The points definitely make it more fun in my opinion. You should get more points in CHA if you Krump.

DAY 6: Went on a run this morning with my wife and our 2 dogs. This was my first day not running HIIT sprints, because my wife can't really handle them. But I figured it was worth it to get my wife and the dogs out of the house and exercising. Also, it was a nice break for my quads, lol. 3 days of pounding my legs with heavy lifting this week was a lot to handle. Overall, I was happy with it. I don't feel like it was cheating or copping out. I feel like it was necessary all around. Like Steve says, 'Do something, Do ANYTHING'. What we did this morning as a family was definitely better than nothing.

Wow, dude! I gotta say, I am impressed. If I was thrown into that predicament you were at work, I would probably just try to eat as healthy as possible while ordering in or grab some subway or something. Fasting wouldn't even enter my mind! That is a decision only a true baller could make. *slow clap into thunderous applause*

DAY 5: Deadlift: 5x5 @ 190 High Bar Squat: 5x5 @ 190 Over Head Press: 5x5 @ 100 Lawn Mowers: 2x10 @ 25 Shrugs: 2x10 @ 40 Bicep curls: 2x10 @ 25 Lat Pull Downs: 3x10 @ 110 Today was a good day at the gym. I lifted hard and increased my weight and came away feeling accomplished. However, I was greatly tempted tonight! My wife and I went over to some friends for dinner. We had a nice well rounded meal of Roast with veggies over rice. But EVERYONE was drinking wine except for me. I wanted some wine soooooo bad. But I did not give in! I held strong to my goal of no alcohol or soda. It sucked in the moment. But I feel great about myself right now.

@CoreyD: Can you give me an example of what you eat on a normal day? This is my first challenge and I just got back into lifting. I am shooting for about 200g of protein a day. I am sitting at 211lbs. But I just can't seem to fathom how I can eat that much protein in a day! What are some good foods to get you to those higher numbers? Thanks, Matt

Haha, thanks dude. Yeah the SL 5x5 is my core. And right now I am sort of just throwing in 2-3 extra excercises of muscles I know need the most work. I am a pretty lucky noob actually. One of my best friends is a personal trainer. I get all the expert advice for free, lol. So he's the one who has me on this program. But yeah, as of right now my back and lats need a lot of work.

I've been recording this stuff on my iPone, so I figured I may as well post it here too. Hopefully it will keep me motivated to up my weight. DAY 1: Deadlift: 5x5 @ 185 High Bar Squat: 5x5 @ 185 Over Head Press: 5x5 @ 95 Dips: 3x10 Lat Pull Downs: 3x10 @ 100 DAY 2: Ran 1 mile HIIT style. DAY 3: High Bar Squat: 5x5 @ 185 Power Cleans: 5x5 @ 115 Bench Press: 5x5 @ 125 Lat Pull Downs: 3x10 @ 100 Bicep Curls: 3x10 @ 25 DAY 4: Ran my HIIT mile. I am not really upping any weight this week. Considering the fact that I haven't lifted weights in about 5 years, I am kinda just wanting to wake my muscles up and make sure these frech fry arms don't collapse on my skull during my over head press. As far as diet goes, it is not really any special diet. The main goal is to eat veggies with every meal, which I have done so far, and I am shooting for 200g of protein per day. Just ordered some whey powder and creatine to help me get there!

Haha. Thanks, Roo! Great advice man. I will definitely take it to heart. I am really starting to feel the soreness with the HIIT/Lifting combo. If it gets to be to much I will slow it down to some LISS stuff.

Pfft. Guns? You call those guns? Your guns got nothing on my guns! (by 'my guns' of course... I mean my gut)