Lasombra

That looks like fun. What are you doing for conditioning, just complexes? I'm finding I don't use anything at the gym but a rack, and that only for squats, so I might end up with a similar setup soon. How are the Rogue bumpers holding up to drops?

It's typically a doctoral program (there are a few masters programs left, but not many). The core prereqs are a year of chem, a year of physics, a year of anatomy & physiology, and a semester of statistics. Most programs will also require some psych and general bio; a few require exercise physiology. There are a few other wacky ones depending on where you want to apply. You'll also need to take the GRE and do some shadowing (those are both on my list for this summer!) Check out http://www.apta.org/ for a list of accredited programs, and http://forums.studentdoctor.net/forumdisplay.php?f=210 for some pretty decent (if sometimes hysterical) discussion on programs, salary, debt, etc. Good luck, whatever you decide! I'm applying this year or next, depending on a few things. It's been a long road thus far, but I'm three years into prepping for this change and still excited about the field.

Hi Denny, I don't share your worldview, but I can relate to the redemptive power of community you talked about. I hope that you will feel supported here and in the real world throughout your efforts, and I hope that the support you get helps you let go of any shame or anxiety that may be stemming from food. Honesty is an act of courage. Welcome aboard! Do you have any specific dietary goals, or are you strictly in "track and take stock" mode for now?

Bah. Didn't make all my squats today. Seemed to be an energy thing rather than a failure thing, if that makes sense. I'd only had a banana and a few bites of yogurt for carbs prior to training this evening. But they still didn't go up, so I'll try the same weight on Saturday. Squats: 270x5, 270x3, 270x4. Weird pattern. Bench press: 165x5 (x3 sets) Chinups (assisted): bodyweight-80x6, x5, x3

We're all here for accountability, right? (At least in part) Don't worry about it, just take steps to improve it! How many sodas have you had today? How many tomorrow? You got this. Good job on the workouts -- it sounds like you're moving in the right direction.

I got my geek on during my lunch break reading John Siracusa's review of Lion. Brief conditioning workout after work/class/chores tonight while I download it: One round of 10 pushups/10 clean and presses each side/10 burpees; A second round of 10/10/2. That's a lot of pushing! I'm going to have to slow down to get my volume in, maybe five rounds of five apiece to start. Or maybe just break them up. So my not-so-grand total after two conditioning workouts is 30 pushups, 30 C&Ps, and 22 burpees. Screw that, I can't have wonky totals floating around... Just did 8 more burpees, so I'm at 30/30/30. Food was fine save the one bite of cake my wife saved me from her trip to the coffee shop (I'm sensing a theme developing...) Oh well, I just had salad with my steak instead of rice. Music was nonexistent, as it tends to be on these 14ish-hour days. Woohoo, only four more like it and my summer class is over! Better get some rest... Squats are looming for tomorrow.

Oh, and just in case anybody reads this and wonders -- I don't tend to type out all my warmup sets. Pain in the butt. But I typically do five to seven to start a workout and another three or four when switching exercises. Today's squat progression, for example, was actually bodyweight x10x2, bar x6, 95x6, 135x5, 185x3, 225x2, 245x1, then three work sets of 265x5. But again, pain in the butt.

OK, I was debating whether to do the updates here or over on the workout log section. There seems to be more action here, so I guess I'm abandoning that thread for a little while! Day one (yesterday) got off to a slow start. I overslept and didn't have time for my full planned conditioning circuit. I did do one round of 10 of everything (pushups, clean and press, burpees) just so it wasn't an abject failure out of the gate, and barely made it to work on time. Food and water were spot on except that I met my wife for coffee and had some of her bread pudding. Meh. It wasn't much, and it was tasty, so whatever. Nothing to report on the music front. Today was my first scheduled lifting session; no conditioning on these days (for now, at least). I was BEAT by the end of this one, and messed up my shins a bit to boot. That's OK, though, because: A) I hit 325 for five on my deadlifts, and They have until Saturday to heal before I do it again The full workout went a la... Squats: 265x5 (x3 sets) Overhead press: 115x5, x5, x3 (Boo... Don't get to go up on weight next time) Deadlifts: That 325x5 I was so excited about. And after I check out some of our army's amazing early tactical results, I'm gonna pick up the guitar for a bit before heading to bed. Not a bad day! I hope you all are killing your challenges so far.

Thanks! I'll get there eventually, five or 10 pounds at a time. Unfortunately, my lucha libre knowledge doesn't go much deeper than Rey Mysterio Jr. But I looked him up on YouTube -- dude can fly around like a champ! No, Lasombra is the clan name of a tabletop RPG character I've been playing for a while. I just checked out your last challenge thread. We do seem to be at pretty similar levels; it will be cool to follow your progress as well. Longer term, I'd like to lean out a fair bit -- 225 at 10% would be cool -- but I'm kind of making it a point to just focus on the movements for now. It's easy for me to get caught up in the minutia of hitting a specific body comp goal -- and from there it's easy (for me) to get unbalanced in the bigger picture. I guess I am trying to drop some fat during this challenge, but it's really secondary to having fun and getting stronger!

I've been consistent with my efforts for a few months now, but this forum is really helping me to turn it up. There's something about typing out my paper journal and putting it up here that gets me going. I also love that we're including general life-related things in these. So here we go. Conditioning 1000 burpees1000 pushups1000 clean and presses (each side) with my 35-pound kettlebellI’m jumping on the bandwagon. I need to be doing more conditioning work, and this sounds like a fun way to do it.Weights Deadlift: 365x5, 405x1I’m currently at 315x4. I rarely test a max, but I’m going to at the end of these six weeks because I think 405 may be in reach, and that would be a super-cool PR, and a nice round (or rather, decagonal... stupid angled plates) milestone on the way to my larger goal of a double-bodyweight dead. Squat: 315x5Currently at 260x5. Who knows if adding this much weight to these lifts in six weeks is realistic, but I’m going to do my damnedest. I think it's doable based on my progress over the last month or so.Diet Hydrate fullyLet’s put this on the order of a gallon of water a day for simplicity. Don’t blow itI’m not going to count calories and macro ratios, and I have no interest in doing the strict paleo thing (or the strict anything thing, for that matter!) But I do need to make sure I’m eating to support recovery as much as possible while staying in caloric deficit. No ridiculous crap like vending machines or drive-throughs.Keep the protein over 200 grams per day at minimum, but aim for 230. This will be fuzzy since I’m not weighing things, but I’ll judge based on gym results and energy levels.Be reasonable with bread and such. Not more than three days per week, and not more than maybe 50 grams of my carbs from them on a given day.Life Learn “Moonlight Sonata†on the guitarI’ve been sorely neglecting my music, and this has been on the list for a while. Life is going to get very busy after about Aug. 20 — it’s time to knock this out. I’m not a classical player, and this ain’t a piece written for guitar, so it’s going to be tough. But I love the song, and I need the technique boot camp right now anyway. I count 69 bars on the transcription I have, so lets round up to 12 bars a week to learn. That’s… so ridiculously doable. Just have to make the time.Starting stats Height: 6 feetWeight: 239Bodyfat: 21.4%Waist: 41"Chest: 46"Shoulders: 51"Arm: 16"Thigh: 25"And that's it! Bring on the new Monday morning conditioning circuit!

Eff that, you're going to need a new shirt! Or at least to take this one to the tailor. There are some awesome goals in there, especially the pullups.

Squats: 260x5 (x3 sets) Bench press: 160x5 (x3 sets) Chinups (assisted): bodyweight minus 80 x5, x6, x3.

Double your food and lift heavy things with proper form. The routine almost doesn't matter as long as you focus on compound movements. You could do the GOMAD thing (gallon of whole milk a day) for a couple months without (much) ill effect on your bodyfat while you focus on getting strong on the big lifts. Then it will be much easier for you to cut down to the lean and mean thing you're going for. You are pretty much the target audience for "Starting Strength," which is probably the best primer for proper form and technique I've seen: http://www.amazon.com/Starting-Strength-2nd-Mark-Rippetoe/dp/0976805421/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1310762916&sr=8-1

Vegemighty: Maybe a first goal could be to test your capabilities and just try some things? Six weeks is enough time to make some progress in a bunch of different areas. If you consistently get in some barbell work, some bodyweight work, some running or biking or martial arts (or whatever stuff you like), by the end of the challenge I bet you'll be stronger, and have some more specific ideas about where to push yourself. I personally love the gym, but I would go month to month at first if at all possible. You don't want a two-year contract if it turns out you're not a fan (after giving it an honest shot, of course!)

Oh, absolutely! That's why it appeals to me too. The 1000 idea will give me some more flexibility with recovery though. I might get wacky with them. Check out some of these cool variations:

I'm in! This is exciting, I pulled the trigger on making an account because of these and OMFG. I have to come up with some appropriate goals this weekend. Burpees every day is definitely out of my comfort zone... But I'm squatting three times a week these days and that might kill me. Maybe burpees on off days.

Squats: 255x5 (x3 sets) These are starting to feel real heavy, but they're still going up! Overhead press: 110x5 (x3) Deadlifts: 315x4, 315x1. Failed on my fifth rep of deadlifts, then rested maybe 30 seconds and got it. Not sure whether to up the weight next time. I'll approach it similarly to the squats last week -- An extra warmup set next time and play it by ear.

I agree, LW. This is getting me pumped for next week!

I don't see a whole lot of obnoxious at my gym, which is kind of surprising because it's a big Gold's. There's the occasional flirty soon-to-be couple, or text-for-10-minutes-between-sets guy, but meh. Once I have my rack, I kind of stop paying attention! I'm definitely in the friendly and brief camp. I only have an hour in there at most, and I need to be working!

Does anybody have experience ramping up the weights again after a loooong layoff? If so, how long did it take you to exhaust your easy (ha!) gains? I am trying to pin down poundage goals that are challenging but realistic. Right now I'm seeing very fast gains -- as an example, my deadlift has gone from 245x5 to 305x5 in right about six weeks. (Going for 315x5 tonight!) This kind of thing will definitely slow down, but I want to ride it out as long as I can. My previous best is in the neighborhood of 365 for maybe a triple. That was a long time a go, in a galaxy far, far away... Well, roughly 10 years, anyway. But I'm training more specifically for strength now. I'm tempted to go for something kinda audacious, maybe 405x5 by the end of the challenge. What do you think? Too much of a reach?

And... two steps back. Spent the weekend at the casino for the wife's grandma's 90th. I expected to miss a workout (and did), and was expecting trouble on the nutrition front, but actually held it together at the buffet. The return home to an empty fridge, though... Oh, ice cream, you are a delicious and terrible dinner. And breakfast. Today's workout: Squats: 250x5 (x3 sets) Chinups (assisted): BW-80x5 (x2 sets) Bench press: 155x5 (x3 sets) Back to it.

Off day from the weights, but a quick progress update: Weight: 240 (down from 243 on 6-26) BF% (three-site calipers): 21.4% (down from 22.8%)

Squats: 245x5 (x3 sets). The last workout was a blip, thankfully. I took longer warming up this time, and had no problem going up in weight. Overhead press: 105x5 (x3 sets). Deadlifts: 305x5 (just one set). These felt GREAT. I hope to continue ramping these up quickly until at least 365.

After a wonderfully lazy weekend, back at it: Squats: 240x5, 240x5, 240x4. Bah. I didn't get down far enough on the last rep, so am only counting four for the final set. I totally had it in me, but didn't commit at the beginning of the rep, and ended up not sitting back enough. Bah. Will take an extra warmup set or two on Thursday before deciding whether to bump the weight. In any case, I'm officially back at a bodyweight squat. (woo?) Gotta start somewhere! Chinups: Miscalculated on the assisted chin station. I got bodyweight minus 80 for 5, and it felt light, so I went down to bw-65 and could only get three. 80 is where I need to be right now. Finished with bench press, 150x5 (x3 sets).

Weird, I'm taking an eight-week speech class this summer after work, too. Makes for a long, dry day, huh? Anyway, welcome! I'm new here as well and definitely like it so far.