drpotter89

First workout of the challenge three sets of 10 pike pushups 8 assisted pistol squats (each leg) 7 pullups 45 second plank 30 second side plank (each side) I did these sets without stopping and broke them up with a .5 mile jog. So it went: .5 mile jog set 1 .5 mile jog set 2 .5 mile jog set 3 .5 mile jog

First things first. The timing of this challenge if perfect since the Warrior Dash I will be running in this summer happens to fall on the 17th of July so this challenge will serve as a perfect training time. So in that light most of my goals will be centered around me being able to complete that race without dying. I'm not a hugely competitive person so I will be running mostly for fun. But I will be attending the dash with friends who are all currently doing p90x so being able to hang with them would be a good feeling. Goal 1: 20 pullups. This is the main focus for my challenge. I have never been able to do that many pullups in a row and this summer seems like the right time. The rebel strength guide got me from being able to do maybe 4 to around 12. And that was with a pretty flakey workout schedule. I have no question it will be attainable as long as I follow my next goal: Goal 2: Strength train 2 times a week. The beginning of the greatest contest in the history of the world was the beginning of my first real commitment to strength training since high school. I had been running off and on since then. But with the help of this website and the primal blueprint am realizing that strength training should be the real meat and bones of a workout plan. I kind of crashed and burned trying to train 3 times a week but I think 2 times is a very reasonable goal. I am very active besides strength (especially in the summer) so will be getting plenty of exercise. My workouts will be either directly from or inspired by two sources: 1) the rebel strength guide body-weight brigade or 2) primal blueprint fitness. There will be no real planning to the workouts other than before the workout choose a reasonable (usually 30-45 min) workout and complete it. As always track my progress. Goal 3: Run. At least 1 time a week but preferably 2-3. In my new found enthusiasm for weight lifting I cannot forget that a large part of the Warrior Dash will still be the Dash. I need to make sure that it isnt the 3.55 miles that kills me. As it closely resembles the warrior dash most of my strength training will also include a running aspect. For it to count towards this goal a run must be at least a mile but can be split up by weight lifting. Goal 4: Continue eating primally. This is a hard to track goal as I have no desire to be more than 80/20 primal. I thoroughly enjoy and cherish my 20% of cheat. I just need to keep evaluating to make sure it doesnt sneak up too much. Goal 5: Take a picture of myself once a week. I started doing this when the rebel strength guide came out and have been incredibly surprised by the results. Even when I did not feel like I lost weight or looked better it was evident in the pictures. My six pack is starting to poke through and if this gives me the motivation to do keep up with my goals then I am all for it.

Drpotter's February challenge About me: I am new to the NF community and have been recently trying to get into a more committed workout schedule. I figured making a challenge would be a good way to make me stick to it. Goals: 1. 3x cardio workouts a week and 1x strength workout a week -these are minimums but likely all I can expect to fit in. My cardio workouts are basically just running I am running a 5k in the middle of the month and would like to run a 1/2 marathon by the end of the year. Right now though I just need to get into a regular running schedule. Im not too worried about times or distances, just getting enough workouts in. The strength workout is basically just to mix things up. I want to make sure I am not committed to just one thing. 2. Run 40 miles total during the challenge. -This one shouldn't be too hard if I do well on goal number 1 but it would be the most miles I have run in a month. 3. Life goal: Don't hit the snooze button. -the amount of times I hit the snooze button in the morning has gotten out of hand. But I have had some success recently by hiding the alarm clock. I figure the only way to make waking up on time realistic is to just completely stop hitting snooze and making getting up to the first alarm a habit. Therefore, my goal is to not use the snooze button any time i set an alarm this month (which will be every weekday) I have not set many goals but I figure that is good to not set too many then fail because of that. Most of my fitness problems stem from just not working out. When I do workout I never feel disappointed in what I did so I basically just need to find the motivation to get to the gym. Once I have a regular workout schedule I can start adding more fitness goals.

Not to defend the doctor but if you read between the lines there are a few things you can take away from his message. Machines are 'safer' because they do the work of the stabilizer muscles, this allows you to work the big muscle without having to worry about technique or anything. For someone who is used to only lifting using machines there will be a major learning curve to be able to do free weights. zielperson had a good example with the bench press. Basically free weights are great because they 'build up' the stabilizer muscles; but that is the thing, make sure you take the time to build them up. Just because you can lift a lot on machines does not mean you have the technique to do so with free weights. People get into trouble and 'beat up' the stabilizer muscles when they dont take the proper time to build up technique and strength. If you are going to start free weights make sure you take the time to learn the proper techniques for all the lifts, a lesson or two would be great for this, just make sure you have an idea what you want to do so the instructor doent just put you on machines. Basically my advice to you is to make sure you take it slow and don't try to do too much too quickly. Don't be embarrassed because you aren't lifting a lot of weight, take solace in the fact that you are performing the exercise with great form. That is far more important than how much or how many you can do.

I know its really sad...but to be fair I have only lived here a couple years, during my frugal college days.

Thank you both! I will definitely sign up for the challenge, i'll have to take this weekend to solidify my plans but ive got a couple ideas.

Hey everybody, I just discovered this site within the last week (thank you stumbleupon....oh the countless hours I've spent perusing your deepest expanses) and have immediately fallen in love with it. I read a fair number of blogs regularly but am not an active member of any of the communities. This is the first blog to inspire me to participate in the forums...I guess that is just how awesome it is. I am incredibly jealous of the adventure that Steve is about to embark on and cannot wait to start hearing all of the amazing stories. Ok for a little background of myself I was on the baseball player all through high school and in football for the first two years, so I have always been pretty active. I am now a junior in college and for the last few years have never had a consistent workout routine. Recently I have started to run more consistently (since high school I have been running a little bit but not nearly consistently enough). I believe that this site will give me the motivation to finally commit to it. In the next few days I plan to set up my character for the OMFG. It is the OMFG that truly pushed me over the edge to start participating in this forum...I think it is a great idea. I will be a scout but will also try to incorporate a lot of the ranger skills. Most of my high priority goals involve running though I have recently tried things such as the 100pushups challenge. I was able to get 75 before I was derailed from the routine...but at some point I will get back on track. I feel that the biggest obstacle to working out as much as I would like is the time commitment. Balancing school, work, social life, and exercise has led to me leaving out the exercise...but since the new year I have been better at keeping an exercise routine and I hope to continue with that trend. I am excited to start a new stage of this adventure we call life, and to have a great group of people to begin with.

Hello all I have just recently discovered this amazing site and was inspired to create my own bucket list and will be getting started on my character for the OMFG. This is a quick bucket list as I am doing it while putting off some homework I really need to be doing. So I imagine that it will change a fair amount in the coming few days as I add more stuff/organize it more effectively. Anyways on with the list: 1. Graduate College 2. Get a ‘real’ job 3. Visit every continent (2/7) 4. Visit every state [ airports do not count] (13/50) 5. Attend the Olympics [summer and winter] 6. Attend the World Cup 7. Attend a game in every major league baseball stadium (4/30) 8. Attend an NFL game 9. Attend an NBA game 10. Attend the Final Four 11. Attend a Grand Slam tennis event 12. Attend a PGA major 13. Attend a tourney at Pebble Beach 14. Play at Pebble Beach 15. Kentucky Derby 16. Skydive 17. Run a 5k race(entered in race on 2/19/11) 18. Run a 10k race 19. Run a half-marathon 20. Run a marathon [50k? 100k?] 21. Compete in a triathlon 22. Sub 6 minute mile 23. Sub 20-5k 24. 50 pull-ups 25. 100 push-ups 26. Sub 90 golf round [85? 80?] 27. Learn to surf 28. Watch my team win a national championship in person [either Giants, 49ers, Sounders, UW Huskies Football, UW Huskies Basketball] 29. Tour (backpack) Europe 30. Climb Mt. Rainier 31. Attend a major concert [10,000+ people] 32. EPL game 33. Hitchike [across state borders] 34. Get a woman’s number within 10 minutes of meeting her 35. Ski in every month of the year [same year?] 36. Heli-skiing 37. Learn basic parkour 38. Have a legit Mohawk for at least a week 39. Go on an extended road trip [at least 3 nights] with absolutely no itinerary…only a brief sense of a destination is okay. 40. Couch surf [and by virtue host a couch surfer] 41. Get in the Guinness Book of World Records 42. New York,NY 43. Four corners 44. Grand Canyon 45. Oktoberfest 46. Great Wall 47. La Tomatina, Valenica, Spain 48. Hike the Appalachian or Pacific Crest 49. Use 10 different modes of transportation on the same day 50. Stay up for 48 hours straight 51. Learn to be able to barefoot run [at least a 5k] 52. Swim with sharks 53. Burning Man 54. Solve the Rubik’s Cube [without cheating of course] 55. Brew my own beer