TheStephil

2nd Week Check-In Getting ready to go to sleep so this is going to be quick. Weigh-In: 154.6 (-0.2lbs) Average weight loss for 2 weeks: 0.9lbs (ahead of goal) Strength Training: 2/3 Cardio: 4/5 Extra Weekend Cardio: 0/1 Goods news is I didn't gain anything while on vacation. I think a lot of walking/standing plus mindful watching of calories. I know I wasn't 100% on my calorie count and I went over my goal on Thursday but I did a lot better than I usually do and that is a huge win. Losing a bit extra was a nice bonus as well. Bad news; I didn't get to strength train three times this week. I used the hotel gym on Tuesday and did a modified routine to the best of my ability. We had to be up extra early on Thursday and my legs were tired from standing in lines all day so I opted for an extra 30 minutes in bed. I worked out at home on Friday since I had the day off but couldn't get myself to do any extra cardio. My weekend cardio didn't happen. I got on the exercise bike but after 5 minutes I quit. Sunday was supposed to be my last strength training session of the week but we somehow managed to sleep in until noon. We were supposed to be at my boyfriend's dad's house for Father's Day at noon so we were about an hour late. We didn't get back home until 9:30pm and I decided lifting wasn't going to happen. Eating lower calories while not having food in the house is rough. We basically ate fast food Friday-Sunday and trying to satisfied off 1,560 calories of fast food is tough business. it made for a very grumpy few days. We have food now and my calories are bumped back up so tomorrow will be a sweet sweet day. I have nothing against fast food but I'll save it for my higher calorie days in the future.

Hello! Cosplay is also a huge motivation for me too. I hope you continue to succeed

Haha I don't think it's bad to say. It's nice to see you aren't the only one struggling with something and there are other people in the same boat. Do you have a plan in motion for how you are going to do a push up? I know you said strength training but are you going to try variations of push ups as well?

Next Week: Modified Plan of Action This week is going to be a bit different because I'm going out of town for three days. IM GOING TO E3! I am so excited to be able to go to this event but it also presents some challenges. My boyfriend and I are leaving straight after work on Monday to drive down to LA. Probably a 7-8 hour drive with a pit-stop to pick up my lovely uncle who got us tickets. Should get down to our hotel at about 1am-2am on Tuesday. We will leave sometime Thursday as my boyfriend and I have to work on Friday. I hate lacking sleep and get very grumpy if I don't get enough sleep. I also tend to get really hungry if I stay up past 11pm. This will be challenge number 1. Challenge 2 will be all the eating out we will be doing while there and my typical vacation mentality of "f*ck it! I haven't had ___ in so long, let me get an extra large". Challenge 3 will be getting in strength training. Plan of Action: Modified Calories: Monday & Friday-Sunday: 1563 calories Tue-Thursday: 1,999 calories Average: 1,750 calories per day Weight Lifting: I packed my workout clothes and plan to use the hotel gym Tuesday and Thursday for a strength workout. I don't know what equipment the gym will have so I'll have to make it up as I go. Worst case if I can only workout one day during the trip then I'll plan to do a body weight workout Friday after work. The event doesn't start until noon on Tuesday and 10am on Wed/Thurs so that should give me time to workout without having to get up early. Eating Out: I am going to pack protein shakes and Quest bars. I will eat a low calorie breakfast of either protein shake, quest bar or yogurt if the free breakfast at the hotel provides Greek Yogurt. If our hotel has a fridge then I will buy some yogurt. I plan to keep our eating out to places that provide nutritional information whenever possible. I plan to eat one healthier meal (grilled chicken, salad, etc.) and one less healthy meal a day. Keep desserts to a minimum. Drink lots of water! I am so excited for this trip and hope that I can stick to my game plan.

Sunday Workout: Tried a new body weight workout because the one I put together was primarily arms and a bit of core. I did some research on body weight workouts and found www.startbodyweight.com with an easy to follow workout and progression table. I added in hangs and took out handstand push-up progression. Squats: Bulgarian Split Squat 3 sets of 4 (each leg) Pull-Ups: Leg Assisted Pull-Up 3 sets of 4 Leg Raises: Flat Straight Leg Raises 3 sets of 4 Push-Ups: 3/4th Push-Ups 3 sets of 8 Horizontal Pull Vertical Pull 1 set of 8 (too easy) Vertical Pull w/ Towel 2 sets of 5 Plank: Regular Plank (elbows) 20 seconds Hangs: 9 seconds I think this workout will be a more rounded workout and will help me progress with push-ups and pull-ups. I will make sure gym days work the legs hard to make up for less work on my body weight days.

Welcome! One of my goals this challenge is to do a single push-up. We are on the same boat. I hope you succeed!

Life Goal: I am new to cosplay but haven't done much in the way of costume making. I am good at find and modifying existing items for my purpose but that only takes me so far. I want to tackle armor building for my next big cosplay. I am giving myself a year to learn this skill and have a completed costume for Fanime 2016. My boyfriend and I play a mobile game called Summoner's War Sky Arena and we are going to cosplay characters from the game. This is the character I'd like to cosplay: Valkyrja I haven't decided on fire (left) or water (right). I like the color combo of water a bit more but my boyfriend is going as a fire character and I think fire team would look better as a combo. My boyfriend is going to cosplay: Fire Archangel My goal for August is to have the bracers done for my character. They are the simplest piece of armor on the costume and a good place to learn.

Thank you!

Week 1 Weigh-In: Saturday June 13th, 2015 Weight: 152.8lbs (-1.6lbs) Left Bicep (relaxed): 11 15/16 inches (-5/16 inch) Right Bicep (relaxed): 12 inches (-0.25 inch) Left Thigh: 22 inches (-0.25 inch) Right Thigh: 22 inches (no change) Narrowest part of waist: 27 inches (no change) Naval: 31.75 (-0.25 inch) Largest part of stomach: 33 inches (no change) Hips: 40 1/16 inches (+1/16 inch) This week went better than expected. If my weight loss continues as it is I will increase my calories but I think this was more of a fluke or water weight.

Thank you! I find myself comparing myself to my old self but in my mind I know I can get there with enough time and effort so it's more motivational and less frustrating. Comparing myself to others is just not fair. I don't know their history, how long they have worked out. they're body, etc. so to compare my lifts to a stranger is just setting myself up for disappointment.

Update of this week so far: Tuesday: Went to the gym after work. Squats have really suffered from my long absence but I want to focus primarily on my form which was lacking at the higher weight in the past. I need to work on not comparing my numbers to others. This is a huge problem for me and a reason I've thrown in the towel before. 65lbs x 5 65lbs x 6 65lbs x 5 Next up Bench Press. Form was good, I was nervous I didn't have a spotter but the weight was relatively low compared to previous weights so I wasn't too worried. I've practiced failing techniques but it's more of an embarrassment factor than anything else. 55lbs x 5 55lbs x 6 55lbs x 5 Seated Cable Rows were next. I hurt my back awhile so normal bent over rows tend to hurt and I was told by my doctor not to do them at this time. 60lbs x 8 60lbs x 8 60lbs x 8 At this point I was exhausted but I thought I'd give the assisted pull-up machine a quick go. 75lbs assist x 5 70lbs assist x 3 70lbs assist x 2 Thursday (today): The squat rack was busy so I started with Overhead Press. This lift has always been trouble for me and has been the worst in terms of lost strength. 40lbs x 5 40lbs x 5 40lbs x 3 Next I went over to the Lat Pulldown machine because it's super fun and I enjoy doing it.. even if it is a waste of time for muscles worked. 25lbs/side x 8 25lbs/side x 8 30lbs/side x 8 Deadlifts were next as squat rack was still being used. This is another one I struggle with form on so I am paying closer attention to lower weight and more sets. I followed the Stronglifts program in the past and it only had you do 1 working set and I felt that it didn't give me enough practice with form. 60lbs x 5 60lbs x 5 60lbs x 3 Squat rack was finally free! Squats here I come. 65lbs x 5 65lbs x 5 65lbs x 5 A quick note about the lovely gym I just joined. The AC sucks. The front area, cardio area, circuit training area, etc. are all air-conditioned to the max. The weight rooms are two-stories instead of one story so there are no AC vents inside the room. While there is no door dividing the room from the rest of the building, the cool air doesn't travel well into the weight area. Add sweaty people pumping iron and yeah... sweat lounge. They have one fan in the room and the ceiling (2 stories up) has one fan on it but it doesn't do much. It has been in the 90s-100s which means inside is easily in the 80s. This has highly zapped my energy while working out and my last few exercises are a real struggle. I almost deloaded squats since they were last in my routine (instead of first like normal) and I was worn out and warm but I tried 65lbs and it went okay. Eating has been on track. I've been trying to eat less during the week and more on the weekends and it seems to be working so far. I go on vacation next week Tue-Thurs and will be adjusting my calories that week.

I have only been going to this gym for a week but I have not seen any resistance bands. I will ask around and if not I can always buy my own and bring them. They allow me to bring in my own 2.5lbs plates because they only have one set and said it's fine if I bring my own equipment. I honestly don't mind the assisted pull-up machine out of all assisted machines but I know it's not the same as free-movement pull-ups.

Greetings Travelers! Motivation: Erza Scarlet from Fairy Tail is a strong, confident woman that is always looking out for her friends and protecting them. I want to be that type of person. I want to be strong enough physically and emotional to take everything life throws at me and protect the things I care about. Main Goal: Get Fit - In Appearance & Physically Goal 1: 0.5lbs/week average weight loss. 2 inches combined off naval, thighs and upper arm. Scored on a scale: 0.1lb/week average = 20% I'm using MyFitnessPal to track calories and have my calories set for 1,750/day average over the week. I will weigh in every Saturday and measure every other week. I will adjust calories based on how progress goes. Goal 2: 1 strong, stable push-up. Pass/Fail I'm back to lifting but I've lost a lot of strength. I used to be able to do a handful of push-ups but they were weak, shakey and didn't look nice. I want to do a controlled, confident push-up. Goal 3: 1 set of 5 60lbs assist pull-up. Pass/Fail I've always wanted to be able to do a pull-up and that is my ultimate goal but to work towards that my goal is to be able to do a 60lbs assist pull-up which would be 90lbs. I understand that using these machines are not the same difficulty as a real pull-up but it is one of the tools I am using and it is easier to gauge than alt. pull-up methods. Life Goal: Pass/Fail I am working on making my first armor costume for cosplay. I hope to have my costume and my bf's costume done for next year's Fanime in San Jose, CA. My life goal for this challenge is to complete the bracers for my costume. I have very limited experience with foam so this will be a challenge but I am looking forward to it. Plan of Action: I am burned out from cardio and don't plan to do much of it. I plan to walk on my breaks and lunch at work daily. This is usually 10 minutes in the morning, 30-40 minutes at lunch and 10 minutes in the afternoon. I will try to incorporate some form of cardio for at least 30 minutes during the weekend. I will be lifting 3x/week with two gym sessions and one session at home. I may lift at home more often instead of the gym depending on how body weight progressions go. Roughly my lifting routine: Tuesday: Low-bar Squats Bench-Press Seated Cable Rows Assisted Pull-up Machine Thursday: Low-bar Squats Overhead Press Lat Pull Down Deadlifts Saturday or Sunday (home/body weight) Hangs from pull-up bar (grip strength) Crunches - various abs work Modified Pull-ups Dips Modified Push-Ups About Me: My name is Steph. I'm a 24 year old living in California. I can't believe I'll be 25 in a few months and have no idea where the time went. I live with my boyfriend of almost 4 years, Drew. We are both a couple of nerds. His focus is mostly video games and anime and my nerd interests are a bit more diverse. I love watching video games and playing them casually. I like watching a lot more than playing. I play Summoner's War Sky Arena on my phone almost constantly. My favorite video game series is Borderlands but I'm also a fan of Fallout, Kingdom Hearts, Disgaea and Pokemon. I love to read. My favorite book at the moment is Ready Player One and I can't wait for Ernest Cline's new book Armada that comes out in July. I also love Stephen King's sci-fi/fantasy books (no horror for me), Wheel of Time series and basically all fantasy books i can get my hands on. I also watch a lot of anime and recently started attending conventions and cosplaying. Cosplay is what gave me the motivation to get myself healthier. I've cosplayed a few times and I am still learning a lot of the technical skills associated with it. Starting Stats: 154.4lbs Left Bicep (relaxed): 12.25 inches Right Bicep (relaxed): 12.25 inches Left Thigh: 22.25 inches Right Thigh: 22 inches Narrowest part of waist: 27 inches Naval: 32 Largest part of stomach: 33 inches Hips: 40 inches Note: Measurements were taken on 6/1 while weight was taken 6/6. My starting weight on 6/1 was 155lbs.

Alex : Hope this works, using my phone. https://www.dropbox.com/s/8vvzcj7138dmsri/bodysquats.3gp

I'm looking through NF and MobilityWOD but I have no idea what I'm looking for in terms of mobility. I don't have a band or a foam roller. I can get a foam roller soon but in the mean time, what should I be looking for in terms of mobility work to do? Any good mobility programs that I can follow for ankle/calf/hip mobility? Does mobility work need to be done before lifting to be effective or can I do it earlier in the day/ on non-lifting days? Should I do a combo of both? How long should I spend on mobility to see results?