Piro

Did not hit my goal of 2 reps at 335 this morning. I got 1 and a half... gonna try again after work, I'm usually stronger in the afternoons. I did not eat as well this week, mixed in more junkfood than I should have and I can tell the difference. Recovery times of other muscle groups were also impeded by the lack of proper nutrition. I'm still learning and developing my discipline. I will get better, I will hit my goals.

week 1 check week 2 335# (monday) check My math is off. I will have to add 10# instead of 5# one week to hit the 360# goal. Probably be on week 6.

Challenge: Add 30 pounds to my deadlift at the end of 6 weeks (starting today) Goals: 1. Deadlift on Monday and Friday each week. 2. Add 5# every Monday 3. Add at lest 1 rep every Friday 4. Eat LOTS of extra calories in addition to regular meals, mostly peanut butter mixed with local raw honey. Details: I've been following NF for ~3 months and have been deadlifting just about the whole time. I've done the paleo diet, lost ~30 pounds and then began to strength train and add calories and have gained some back, in muscle mass though. I've joined the forums and have accepted a challenge. This morning I deadlifted 330 pounds, at the end of the 6 weeks I want to be at 360 (approximately twice my body weight). My ultimate goal is to deadlift 500 pounds by April 2015. I have a bet, If I win, I get my lawn mowed by ny nephews (twice). If I lose I owe both of them $5. This morning I did: 5 @ 230 5 @ 280 3 @ 300 2 @ 320 1 @ 330 then 10 reps @230 to finish 5 minute rest between each set I also have a mixed strength, body weight, and intermittent cardio (sprints & box jumps) that I will work into my week. But on deadlift days I will always deadlift first.

I finished officially at 30:20... But I finished first! It was a small local fundraiser event that was mostly (just about all) walkers. I didn't know that and was only one of a handful of runners. I zoned out and ran off course once. I also had to stop and ask directions when the course doubled back on itself. No one explained the course at the start and I didn't know it doubled back. But I ran the entire thing, except when I stopped to ask directions... that took maybe 30 seconds, everything else was running.

Ran 26:20 nonstop yesterday. I have not been able to interval train like i've wanted to, weather/flooding being the biggest factor getting in the way. But It wasn't until after I had finished running that I realized I had not eaten much of anything all day... just an apple and 2 chicken wings ~4 hours prior to the run. Some extra energy would have benefitted me more and let me run for a little longer I think. Anyhow, the run is in 4 days. Until then, I plan to limit myself to body weight workouts from the waist up to give my legs a good amount of time to rest/recover and be ready for the 5k. I've promised myself that if I can finish faster than 28:30 I will either get some new running shoes or a new swimsuit for the beach this summer.

Congratulations on your progress, I think you're really REALLY AWESOME! Especially for the socail rule breaking. I had/have similar social issues and one of the most influential small things I did to build confidence was to improve my posture. Everytime I walked into a room, I made sure to stand tall with my shoulders back, chest out and head held high. After a few days I began to feel different, and within a week people began to react and treat me differently as well. Now I stand tall all the time, and every once in a while, I catch someone checking me out. GREAT confidence booster there!

Nah, I'm not looking for a fight, no way. I'm just wanting to make sure I'm going in the right direction. If there was a better path to take for my personal development or not.

So I've been thinking about learning a martial art. I've always been intrigued by jiu jitsu and after a brief search, there is a Royce Gracie Jiu Jitsu school in the next town over. GRACIE STYLE JIU JITSU!!!! It's $80 / month with unlimited classes, and even personal classes (included in the cost according to the site) So my questions are, is $80/month a good price? (I'll also be spending an additional ~$60 in travel expenses per month) And, is jiu jitsu a good martial art to learn compared to Taekwon-do, mma, or karate?

Thanks! I have less than 2 weeks now before this thing. My legs have been blasted from squats this weekend. I suppose I'll have to put strength training (at least for the lower half) on a hiatus until after this run. Weather has also been preventing me from running like I've wanted to - hence the strength training. But it should be clear by tomorrow afternoon I hope, and I can get back on track.

Congratulations on your progress up to this point! Your story is very encouraging and I found some motivation for myself in your words. For that, I thank you. Keep that positive mind set, diet, and that workout ethic you have developed and you will no doubt reach your goals and even surpass them!

I didn't measure distance during the run, but maybe it was more like a jog than a run. I'm not really sure of the differences between a jog and a run. Jogging is a little slower i guess? I'm fairly tall (6'3"), so my stride is longer than average I suppose which helps cover some distance. I like the idea of incorporating the interval training to build speed. The faster I get the 5k done, the less time I have to spend running! I'm going to modify my plan to include this. The 3-4 days off before the race is a good tip too, thanks!

Results from the diagnostic: walked 5 minutes - warmup ran 24 minutes - hit a barrier at around 10 minutes, after I got over that I found my rythym and everything evened out. I was able to space out and just run. I believe I could have went longer if I really pushed myself hard. walk - 1 minute, my legs wanted to keep on running. I think walking was a mistake cause I lost my rythym. ran 5 minutes - took me ~4 minutes to get back into my rythym, I need to work on finding that rythym faster. Focusing on cadence and breathing seem to be key for me. walked ~3 minutes, at this point I quit and headed to the gym My plan to improve is to run on M/W/F following the same routine: walk 5 min warmup, run for as long as I can, walk 1 min, run again, repeat for as long as I have time for.

You are doing incredibly well! Getting over the soda/sugar barrier is every bit as difficult as getting over an addiction. I think quitting sugar can be more difficult than quitting smoking. I can say that it does get easier and the cravings do get less frequent. GREAT JOB! Keep it up and don't stop until you reach your goal.

Thanks! I'll get that diagnostic run done today after work.

Fiction: GoT, Dance of Dragons, although I've lost interest in it and only pick it up when the wife has control of the TV remote. Non-Fiction: After reading and watching The Secret, I've been burning through some personal development, meta-physics books. Master Key System by Charles Haanel (on the 5th lesson currently) and The Sience of Getting Rich by Wallace Wattles. loved loved LOVED these books: Hitchhiker's Guide, Dark Tower, and WoT (especially the ones Brandon Sanderson finished) also enjoyed Terry Goodkind's SoT and Hunger Games (although I think they were poorly written)

I was volunTOLD that I am running a 5K on May 10. I've been strength training mostly since November. I mix in a little basketball (full and half court) here and there. I've only ran one 5K and that was 7 years ago, in the rain, and I finished 28:30(ish) can't remember the exact time but it was around that. I'm confident that I could finish in under 35 minutes, but my question is: What can I do within three weeks that will have the most impact on my ability to run this race?

Oh I do squats, and I do have goals for them (as I do for every exercise I do) but my focus is on deadlifts and benchpress. I just dread squats for whatever reason. I suppose that should be my next goal after I accomplish my target on the deadlifts. Get those squats up to par! Thanks!!

Hi everyone, I'm Piro, 34, 6'3" 182 lbs (+/- a few on any given day) Bio: My fitness kick was motivated almost a decade ago (wow i'm feeling old-er right now) for the only real reason to me at the time; a woman. Fast forward to present day, I'm married (5 years), found complacency and contentment and proceeded to get unfit. I was hit with a bout of kidney stones last September and I gotta say that pain like that is near unfathomable. New motivation: kidney stones, or the prevention of. Since September 2013, I've cleaned up my diet and gone from 198 to a low point of 172 (thank you Nerd Fitness and the Paleo diet!) and have started to add (muscle) weight back on. Currently, I'm strength training with the simple exercises, deadlifts, pullups, squats (bleh!), overhead presses, bench press, more pullups and more deadlifts. Goals, long term: My long term goal is to get to where I'm deadlifting 2x body weight, 25 pullups (I did 18 yesterday!) and bench press 1.5x body weight. I figure if I can get these in line, most everything else will fall into place too. Short term Goal: I'm cruising for my 5 year anniversary soon and am trying to cut what belly fat I can to get those abs to show. To do this, I'm limiting my calories between ~1500 and ~2000 each day and working out in a fasted state as often as possible. After the cruise, I'll be going back to a weight gaining diet trying to pack on the pounds.