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Over the years, I've often used this Rebel smoothie from the old Strength Guide: 8oz whole milk (I substitute soy or almond milk because lactose issues) frozen fruit frozen spinach 1.5 cups oats one scoop whey protein The problem is, this smoothie comes out at the consistency of mud. It will very slowly leave a glass and getting it out of a straw is impossible. I've fixed this problem in the past by nearly doubling the volume with more milk, but that just makes for a different kind of hassle. Is this a normal problem? Am I too ambitious in calorie count for a smoothie? Any suggestions?

Hi all. I have an old version of the Rebel Strength guide that I was using in 2012 for the dumbell program. In 2013, I was strength training for about 6 months with a friend and learned to be comfortable with a barbell, at least for bench press and squat. Now, I'm looking to get back in and looking at doing a barbell-based program. The Rebel Strength guide recommends Pull Ups, Deadlifts, Squats and Push Press. I'm comfortable with Pull Ups and Squats already, and I've done a little bit of deadlifting and think I can get the form down. However, I'm a little worried about trying to learn an overhead or push press on my own, seeing as how bad form could lead to a lot of weight above my head coming down fast. I don't have the money to hire a personal training session right now, either. Is it safe to try and pick up push press on my own? If not, can I substitute bench press for push press?

Monday update. I got my 3000 calories every day the last week except last Monday. Went to the gym Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, which is my three days. Weighed in at 155, and accomplished something on the TODO list every day, including starting a new productivity method at work which I feel is doing wonders. So my scoring: Calorie goals: B Gym attendance: A Weight: A TODOs: A Overall: A Good week!

I'm doing a study of a certain demographic of people for a research paper. I'd like to say more, but loudly announcing in-progress academic work in a public forum would be frowned upon by my supervisor.

Hey Emerald. I understand the temptation to splurge on board games. I live by J&J cards and collectibles, which is one of the best board game stores in North America. I only started playing board games about a year ago, but I've already got a shelf full of them... I justify it since I've got roommates to play with. Anyways, keep up the good work, and know that board games are something that are way too easy to break down on!

A four day update! Monday through Thursday. I made my calorie goals except for Monday. On Monday I was a) out of almonds, it was pouring and I don't have a car, so I couldn't get groceries. Basically I ended up eating whatever I could find but didn't make it. Tuesday through Thursday were all successes, with Thursday pushing close to 4000 calories (don't know exactly as I didn't bother tracking dinner). I made it to the gym Tuesday and Thursday. I didn't break and weight records for lifting but I did manage to do more good-form sets without breaking down. One terrible thing was the ridiculous line-up for the squat rack on Thursday, so I ended up just doing bar-weight squats. I weighed in at 155 this morning. I don't know if I just stopped losing weight in tandem with gaining, but this last week my weight gain has been spectacular. If I can get steadily above 156, I'll have succeeded in the challenge. Finally, life goals have been good. Monday and Tuesday were fairly productive, I finished reading a book that I've been stuck on two months, and on Wednesday I had a super long day doing interviews in Toronto. Thursday I was transcribing interviews which was a whole lot of work for 0 TODOs complete, but actually a success. I think for the next challenge I need to rephrase this goal, because the number of TODOs is less important than the matter of staying productive each day. Hard to find a quantitative measure for that. Outside of the food failure on Monday I'm feeling really good about this week. I'll make a B grade at least even if I have to eat a whole bag of almonds every day.

Yeah, it was Skyrim. I think I have the obsessive need to play out my system though. Heading to the gym in an hour.

Thank Nhiyoka, I will be sure to look into lactose-free whole milk at my grocery store. I'm not sure if they'll have it, though, and as I do not own a car and share a fridge with three other people, GOMAD may end up being difficult for a whole variety of reasons. I would like to try it nonetheless. Zdub, I've done the PB and apple snack myself. Right now peanut butter is a significant part of my normal lunch meal though, so I feel like I should diversify my diet a bit. Now for a big (and sad) update. I severely failed all tests of willpower this weekend. A video game that I had been looking forward to for a year was released on Friday, and I totally let myself fall off the wagon to play more. I won't let it happen again this week. Friday's calories were 2900. Saturday's were 2900, and Sunday's were only 1800. I partially blame Sunday on my body, as it decided to throw a rebellion and cause me great pain for a portion of the day, leading me to reduce my food intake significantly. I also did not go to the gym. I had an event to run all Saturday (morning to about 11 PM) and when Sunday rolled around I just didn't want to go to the gym - I lazed about playing games most of the day, until the stomach problems started. As for TODOs, I finished some on Friday and some on Saturday, but none on Sunday. WEEK THREE GRADING Calories - Friday and Saturday were so close! But no cigar. That means I only met my goal 4/7 days - a D. Gym - 2/3 days required for the week. C. Weight - 154lbs at last weigh-in, which is a huge success. A. Life goals - Did better than last week, so I'm going to give myself a B. Overall grade - C. NEW GOALS Since I've technically already failed the challenge, I want to set a new target for myself: no more C-rated weeks for the rest of the challenge.

Weighed in this morning: 154 lbs! Something's working.

Ouch, wrote up a reply but a forum error lost it. Short version, for Monday and Tuesday. Calories: Check Workout: Barbell Battalion on Tuesday, plus a short run Weight: Forgot to Check! TODOs: 7/4

A big update! And the summation of Week 2. Thursday: Thursday was a calorie success, with my intake around 3200 calories. I was incredibly sore to the point of pain, which would come back to bite me on Friday when I missed my workout goal. I also only accomplished a single, albeit fairly large, item on my TODO list. Friday: Another calories success! All the tips people gave me on the forum for sneaking in the cals have been working well. Over 3000 on Friday. However, my first super big failure of the week came as I could not will myself to the gym. My back and arms were still sore to the point of pain at the touch on Friday, and I figured it would be best to rest until they were healed. I accomplished again only two items on my TODO list, one of which was not even related to work. Saturday: I am great at eating. 3000 calories easily. I was still too sore for the gym (three full days of recovery!). But again accomplished a couple TODO items. Sunday: 3000 calories and... a trip to the gym! Three days overdue for my Friday workout, I did a Barbell Battalion trip Sunday morning to make me 3/3 on workouts for the week. TODO list went well with three items accomplished, even though everything I did was pretty laid back and not intensive. Finally, I weighed myself this morning - 152 lbs. WEEK 2 GRADING Goal #1: Though I didn't make it to the gym MWF, I did do MWSu, meeting my three workouts required. As I didn't skip the gym out of laziness, but rather out of the responsible goal of not injuring myself, I think I deserve an A on this one. Goal #2: 5/7 days I met my calorie goals. Converting that straightforward to a letter scale, I got a C. Goal #3: Though it's difficult to say I have accomplished anything when I weigh 1 pound more than at the start, I'm tentatively giving myself a B on this one. If I gain one pound a week, I'm there. Life Goal: Though I started really strong on the TODOs, I dropped off as I stopped feeling motivated throughout the week. Looking at Monday and Tuesday with 3+ goals and comparing to the rest of the week, I realize how much I dropped the ball on this one. C. Overall: B

You might be interested in http://hundredpushups.com/ if you want to get up to 50. It's a tough challenge, but doable. Also let me tell you from experience it's possible to catch up in school. Through my second year of university I was a bad student with marks in the low 60s, even some 50s. But I decided to pull myself together and now in my fourth year I am at the top of my class. I will never bring my overall average in line with who I am now, but it has been worth it just to show myself that hard work and will can get you where you need to go.

I am amazed at your strength goals. I'm just starting out as a scrawny guy and I get a workout from the naked bar. Sounds like despite not getting to the gym you managed to get some work in on a conference, which from experience I know to be way harder than it sounds. Congrats.

Absolutely gain weight - trying to gain 5 pounds for my 6 week challenge. It's a real difficulty for me - I ate like this for about 5 weeks in September (fell off the wagon after getting sick and going on a trip) and managed to gain only two pounds, though I do think my existing body mass is moving around (I'm thicker around the waist). By the way, thanks to everyone for the ideas and advice, it's really helping.

Thanks for all the advice. I will consider adding some bacon and eggs to my breakfast. I would love to do GOMAD as I think it would be a much easier method, but I am also lactose intolerant. I think I just have to do this the hard way.