joedog

Great job with the dance performance and the rowing goal! I struggle with diet too when I'm trying to hard. I'll sit in my office and concentrate on what to get so my lunch is healthy and then end up with a fast food burger because I stressed myself out. Have fun on holiday!

Week 5 recap: Goal 1) Strength: I got 2 SS sessions in at the gym. Saturday it just wasn't happening. The gym was only open for 3 hours on Sunday, of course during family obligation time. 2 workouts = B Goal 2) Walking: I got 15.7 miles this week. All of a sudden 2 miles a day is just happening. Silly old laws of motion! Bodies in motion do tend to stay in motion. 15.7 miles = B Goal 3) Tracking: I'm still tracking 100% with my modified plan. I've been able to cut down a lot on stress eating with one major exception. I haven't had anymore of the stomach problems so no chance to learn more about what is triggering it. 100% = A. Goal 4) Meditation: I got in 2 sessions this week. Planning to finish strong and keep this new habit! 2x = C On the scales yesterday morning I was down 1.5 lbs which is really amazing since this turned into an Eat ALL the THINGS!!1! weekend. My partner's depression was really off the chart last week. She seems to be feeling better now but it was pretty scary a couple of times. Then throw in that my Dad's chemo treatments have stopped working and he has to start a new one, it was a stressful weekend. Then I went to the gym this morning and lifted heavy things. That helped. Also, watching the middle aged men trying to figure out what to do with the very large woman who has camped out in the squat rack is fun.

Weight on Sunday: 314.5 lbs I missed my lift day on Saturday because this weekend was stupid and I had to choose my priorities wisely. I did hit the old garage gym Saturday night to work on power clean form, rack position etc. My power clean still looks like a seizure so I'm going to do rows for a while and continue to practice on my form. Today: Squat: 5xbw, 1x5 45#, 1x3 65#, 3x5 75# Form felt very good. 75 didn't even feel heavy today. Bench: 1x10 45#, 3x5 55#. These are still light enough that I can manage with bad form. Which I suppose is good because my form on set 2 was atrocious. I need to study up so I can remember where I should be in relation to the bar. BB Rows: 1x10 45#, 3x5 55#. I need to watch some form video because these felt too easy. Maybe the weight is just low for me.

Thanks so much for the tips. The thing that has helped the most so far was allergy shots. My asthma isn't that bad if I take care of myself. I just need to build that habit. Sent from my ADR6425LVW using Tapatalk 2

My eczema works in concert with my asthma. When one flares, the other isn't far behind. As long as I take my asthma meds, no eczema problems. My asthma is made worse by dairy and processed foods. I'm on a mission to get most if not all processed food out of my diet in hopes that I can stop taking so much medicine. Sent from my Kindle Fire using Tapatalk 2

Stevia is a plant. We use it. I'm sure if you look long enough you'll find someone to tell you it's horrible. Sent from my ADR6425LVW using Tapatalk 2

SS Workout 1 3-24-13 Squat 1x10xBW, 3x5x45. Form with the bar was not so great but it improved as my body remembered what we were doing. OHP 3x5x45# DL 3x5x65# SS 2 3-26-13 Squat 1x10xBW, 1x5x45#, 3x5x55# Form better today BP 3x5x45# Pwr Cln 3x5x45#. Form absolutely terrible. Clearly I need to do some more research and practice on form. SS 3 3-28-13 Squat 1x10xBW, 1x5x45#, 1x3x55#, 3x5x65#. Form felt good. Probably need to video at this point. Squats are awesome! OHP 2x5x45#, 3x5x50#. Form good, going to need fractional plates soon. I won't be increasing 5# per session for long on this. DL 2x5x65#, 3x5x75#. Form felt good. I understand why at higher weights you train DL as a 1x5. I'm still not near maximum intensity but it definitely raised my heart rate more than squatting did. Very interesting. I'm really glad I decided to give up on NROLW and dive in to SS.

I'm a 37 year old female. I need to lose weight, gain strength and get my mojo back. Starting stats: 12-27-12 Weight 316.5 lbs Neck 17.5" Waist 54" Hips 54" Bicep 19" Bust 54" Thigh 29.5" Calf 18.5" Body Fat % using the Military calculation 54.2% (Yeeeowch!) That gives me a lean body mass of 145.1 lbs. I really don't care what the number on the scale says as long as my BF% is lower. My initial goal is to get below 35%. Its hard to decide a final goal right now so I'll reevaluate after I get sub 35%. That is around 200 lbs at my current LBM. My plan is to change my diet, do Starting Strength and walk. Eventually I will start running but I'm not quite ready to yet.

I'm just a frustrated rugby coach without a team so it was no problem to share what I know. If I was on the same continent I'd offer to come run with you but a trip to Ireland is not in my immediate future.

My first Starting Strength workout: Squats: BW 1x10, 45# 3x5, form was so so OHP: 45# 3x5, form good Deadlift: 65# 3x5, concentration wasn't good, so form was somewhat lacking. I had a hard time concentrating because this weight was low. Second workout: Squats: BW 1x10, 45# 1x5, 55# 3x5, form was better. My body is loosening up and remembering how we do this. Bench Press: 45# 3x5 Power Clean: 45# 3x5. This was pretty much a disaster. I did Hang Power Clean instead of Power Clean because it was morning and I wasn't prepared enough. I've done quite a bit of research and I know what I need to do different next time.

Trust me, I almost used up my endurance just typing it out. When I was playing American football, I used a similar program in the offseason to build up speed and agility. Nothing over 50 yards at a time. By the time football started again, I was an offensive lineman but when we did laps I could go longer and faster than the safeties and linebackers. I *heart* sprint drills. If I ever run a 5k, it will probably be more like a tabata interval than a distance run.

I don't think I can add anything that hasn't already been said but I just wanted to add more support. It seems counter productive but sometimes you need to eat more to lose weight. Don't be afraid of healthy fats either. I totally stalled a good weight loss once because of a complete refusal to eat any fat that wasn't on the "approved" list for the program. Their version of good fat was I Can't Believe Its Not Butter spray. What on earth was I thinking? There is a ton of good information here on NF and an even better community of people. Even the religious conversations here don't get too far out of control. Welcome!

This is probably going to be a wall of text. You want to work on your endurance in a way that compliments what you do on the rugby pitch. As a forward on the pitch, you're sprinting from set piece to loose piece to loose piece and so on. So training for a 5k would not be complimentary to rugby training, especially in season. I got the following workouts from USA Rugby. These are specific to in season rugby training. Depending on your current endurance level, you may need to lower the volume, just make sure you're still pushing yourself. Session 1) Sprint the long end of a rugby pitch (100m), jog the top end (70m), sprint the long end, walk back to the start. Repeat 6 times. Session 2) 10x50m sprint/50m jog. Start at goal line, sprint 50 m, then jog through the other end. You have the remainder of 45 sec to rest then repeat in the other direction. Session 3) Turnabouts: 40m for backs, 30m for forwards. Sprint full pace 30m, rest 5 sec x 4, rest 3 minutes. Repeat 8x. Progression is start from laying flat out on the floor. Session 4) From start cone sprint one direction for 15m, turn back sprint back past start cone 30m, turn and sprint 15m back to start cone. Rest 15 sec, repeat 4x. Rest 2 min then repeat 6x. Progressions include: 5 pushups at each start, turn and finish; 5 squats at each start, turn and finish; zigzag runs; zigzag runs and hit the ground at each start, turn and finish; 5 burpees at each start, turn and finish. If any of the above is too vague, let me know. I tried to condense it down somewhat. This is just a sample. Think in terms of sprinting, changing speeds and changing directions more than just distance running. Also, talk to your coach to make sure you aren't working in a way that is counter to his/her thinking.

Hang in there. Some people do well changing everything at once and some people need to work on one habit at a time. I'm on my phone so I can't link but both Staci and Steve have some great blog articles about transitioning to paleo. It looks like you're already making good progress! Sent from my ADR6425LVW using Tapatalk 2

I'm 37 Sent from my ADR6425LVW using Tapatalk 2

I played either second row or loosehead prop depending on what other personnel was available. Sent from my ADR6425LVW using Tapatalk 2

So today is sort of a triumphant one for me because I had the best week I've had over 2 challenges. Goal 1) Strength: My goal was to do NROLW 3x per week. I realized that one of the reasons I've struggled with this goal is because I really want to be doing something like Starting Strength since I practically worship at the altar of Rippetoe. My plan was to do NROLW to get stronger to start SS. Then I read the SL program. It is really similar to SS (5x5 instead of 3x5). The author advocates starting with the the bar so you can see bigger gains quicker. I realized that I'm strong enough to handle at least the Oly bar for all the SS exercises so I should just jump in. We joined the gym Thursday. Due to other commitments I only got in one strength work out but that's one more than I've done in a very long time. 1 workout = C Goal 2) Walking: I made it my personal mission to walk at the very least 2 miles every day. This resulted in one night of laps back and forth across the back yard and a short little jaunt in a freakin' white out snowstorm. We went to the gym for a bit Saturday and I went longer on Sunday. I walked 1.25 miles each time. I just totaled up my week and I got 16.45 miles! Woohoo! That's good enough for a B. Pretty good work since I've only gotten Fs in this goal for 2 challenges. 16.45 miles = B Goal 3) Nutrition tracking: I changed this one up a bit too. My initial goal was just to track on MFP. My thought process was that I've always lost weight when I was tracking on there, even if I wasn't intentionally striving for a specific calorie goal. Sh*t gets real when you write it down. One night after I had a salad, I got sick. This is an ongoing problem. I've identified several things that cause it but I haven't been able to narrow it down. It makes no sense that a salad leaves me down for the count but I can eat hot wings all day. I decided to switch from MFP to a written journal to be able to track more things like foods that made me sick, times I was eating emotionally, my diet in relation to my TOM, etc. I've kept up with this 100% this week. Its going to be a longer term effort to figure it out but at least I'm started. 100%=A Goal 4) Meditation: I'm getting better at this one. I can even do it without the app talking to me to some extent. And yes, I fell asleep in church. The choir was beautiful but I was sitting still, it was warm and I probably have untreated sleep apnea. I closed my eyes to meditate on the music and asleep I went. At least I didn't snore. I meditated 2 other times during week. I'd like to make this a daily habit. 3x = B

Lesson learned today: practicing meditation while the church choir sings in Latin for 45 minutes is not a good plan. Sent from my ADR6425LVW using Tapatalk 2

One of my cats sits outside the bedroom door and howls when he decides its breakfast. This gets the corgi going which in turn causes the chihuahua to dance on our heads. I feel your pain. I need to work on my sleep habits for the next challenge. Sent from my ADR6425LVW using Tapatalk 2

Outstanding! Way to come back strong! I can't wait to hear about the scuba dive. That's one of my long term goals too. Sent from my ADR6425LVW using Tapatalk 2

When I first started doing them, I pretty much just had to fall off the ball when I was done. At the time I was working out from home so I would crash on the floor then hear my partner call out, "Um...are you okay?" So I started announcing when I was about to crash land.

*Kick in the pants* Great job on the strength training. Just take it one day at a time on the areas you're falling behind. And don't worry too much about over eating when your folks were in town. It takes a while to adjust your mindset to staying on your healthy track while other people are eating what they want. Ems, here's your *kick in the pants* Now go forth and eat your planned diet! I've been trying to work out at home. I've got plenty of equipment to do NROLW or CrossFit or most any reasonable program. But I'm easily distracted by shiny things and there are a lot of shiny things in my house. If I go to the gym then I'm going there for one purpose and it's easier for me to stay focused. This gym doesn't have a full power rack but at least they have squat stands with safety bars. I can't wait for the first person to come up and tell me squats aren't safe.

I hate it when that silly real life thing gets in the way of posting on my favorite internet forums. I just wondered if the Doctor had whisked you away and if so, would he do some jiggery pokery on your computer so you could check in with us. Good to see you're still hanging in there! I know from personal experience that it isn't as much fun to post when things aren't going perfectly. But that's okay. It seems like you're doing a good job adjusting your goals as needed to fit real life. Good luck!

I use the Square Foot gardening system too. My big triumph last year was vertical watermelons. I've got lettuce and tomatoes growing in the garage right now. I'm excited for this growing season. Sent from my ADR6425LVW using Tapatalk 2

I have a friend who has this theory about how you just have to be 10% crazier than your potential attacker to stay safe. Her credentials come from commuting for years on the Metro in DC. I thought about that when I read your question. It's clear that Ender's will to survive is very strong. He doesn't enjoy what he has to do to survive like some of the other characters but he is willing to do it.