AlexUSAF2014

You know when you load a game you haven’t played in forever, just to find out your game save was deleted/corrupted? That’s me right now. I joined NF a loooong time ago, before I was active military, weighed 165 and was squatting 180 with ease. Now after five years or so, getting my DD214 and being hit with crippling depression because of multiple deaths in the family, and being lost after ETSing, I’m back in the gym. My girlfriend keeps me motivated and, being my first time in the gym after a year, my body is sore and oooooh I miss it. Lets consider this a restart instead of a respawn, because I’m currently 225lbs and squatting 80 with max effort. Hopefully by Spring Break (girl and I have South Padre Island plans), I can be back to around 190lbs, with planned meals and two-a-day workouts mixed with weekend hikes! Being that I haven’t been involved in the fitness community for a while, what are some good post-workout supplements? Proteins, BCAA’s, etc., suggestions please!

All I know is PF doesn't have squat racks... They don't have benches with the racks for that either... They do have Smith Machines though, and plenty of them. I went to the Y when I was home. They have a single Smith machine that I've seen in use once the entire time I've gone there (a few years). They have a real squat rack and 3-4 bench pressing stations.

25,000 miles in a year At a pace of 5.5 mph that would take you just over half the day. To get a day off you'd have to run more than a day to make up for it. Jeez.... If there were ever unrealistic expectations.

AlexC: I started Stronglift today (Thanks Raev) and I love it. I'll definitely be doing that 3x a week and running in between lift days, and use Sunday as a rest day. And actually you're supposed to add 5 pounds EACH WORKOUT. It's crazy but starting today I realized that 45 lbs. was way light. Thanks all for your input!

When I did 50m underwater - two laps, one way down and one way back - I would oxygenate my bloodstream by semi-hyperventilating. Deep breath in, and exhale quickly. I did that for about a minute. right after I finished that I would take a deep breath and kick off from the edge of the pool. But, I knew my limit and when I started seeing spots (towards the end of the 50) i would immediately surface. Be careful. We are part of Nerd Fitness, Nerd implying that we are smart.

I didn't read all the replies but as a former lifeguard at the YMCA: We were required to do hourly chemical checks. If chlorine (we used calcium hypochlorite, if you want to see if that's carcinogenic) balances fell out of a certain range we would either put more chlorine in the system or more water. Swallowing the pool water won't do too much harm if the chlorine balance is right, and not much is swallowed. It's not like your swallowing straight bleach. Rule of thumb: If you can smell the chlorine or if the water is green-tinted, be careful. On the topic of skin and hair care, you can go to a website (I used to swear by "The Lifeguard Store") and purchase shampoo and body wash that will moisturize your skin and get that weird chlorine feeling out of your hair.

I run to get my time down for the military, and whenever a Glow Run or Color Run comes up on my side of town I'll pay to run just because its fun. I live in Ohio too, so these Buckeye fans up here are amusing. I'm from South Carolina and I'll sport Gamecock gear just to see what kind of looks I get from people. The "Haha what kind of team has "Cocks" in it" is pretty standard.

Gainsdalf: currently I'm at a 12/12:30. I'm doing 40 pushups. My main thing right now is my girlfriend made a semi-humorous comment "I can't wait til you get some muscle and aren't as squishy." I'm honestly not THAT bad, but it hit me hard enough that I'm using that as motivation. But I just finished that Stronglift 5x5. Wasn't that bad, but I didn't know that the muscles on the back of my legs were that weak, so I texted my recruiter and warned him I might be in a little pain tomorrow when our DEP pool does out monthly group PT

Another question. So as I said, I'm going in the Air Force, and this means I have to be able to hit 50 pushups and 60 sit-ups, as well as a 11:00 min. mile and a half. Would doing. 5x5 three times a week and running three days with one day rest do well? Say Monday, Wednesday, Friday lifting and Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday running?

I've been lifting weights (the machines...) and have been wanting to transfer over to the free weights. I'm not entirely sure what to do. Etiquette, weight I should start at... All that stuff. I'm preparing for the Air Force and my main goal right now is to lose fat weight while gaining strength, and, just for my girlfriend, gain muscle MASS. I'm not entirely weak but I had an injury that prevented me from working out for about a month and a half and in that time lost 15 pounds of what I think was muscle mass. I figure this from my 20 pound drop in the max weight for curls and a 15 pound drop in leg press. Anyways, help me out here please. I'm been wanting to get off the machines for a while now.