anxiety

Nope, I did high bar, I've just had really bad flexibility issues my whole life.

Goal #1 (Grade: F, I actually went down in weight to get better form and not hurt myself) Be able to squat 2 plates (225lbs) below parallel for 8 reps. I am currently at 185lbs. Goal #2(Grade: C, I made it to 159 lbs at my lowest (gain of 3 lbs!), but I only made it halfway to my goal) Weigh 162lbs (at my lowest, right now I weight around 156lbs at my lowest). This is going to be my toughest goal since I have been stuck at my weight for some time now. Goal #3 (Grade: C, I made it halfway through before school and laziness started catching up to me) Do the 30-day beginning yoga thing that was posted on a thread. I really need to become more flexible and I think this will help, I just need to find the time to do it, which shouldn't be hard! Here is the link for the yoga schedule I am doing: http://yoga.about.com/od/beginningyo...rtmonthone.htm Life Goal (Grade: F, even though I read 100 pages, I am still so very far away from the end) Finish my book!! I am currently reading "Brisingr" and I have been doing so since before summer started! I am on page 415 (out of 750) and I really want to finish it, and it seems like a good life goal to complete in the time given. Overall: D

I use to be a runner (mainly for the same reasons as you), but I stopped when I went into college. I weighed about 130 lbs at 5'11, so I was very naturally skinny. I picked up weight training after about 2 months of being in college, and got hooked (I couldn't relieve stress with running, so I did it through weight lifting, which I found a little easier). I gained 30 pounds in a year by eating a ton of healthy foods (lean meats, like lamb, chicken, tuna, etc. and other healthy side items). I lifted a lot though, about 5 days a week, I was on a really weird split when I started. I always did 3 sets of 10 though. Now I do 12, 10, 8, 6. It depends on what you want. 5x5 will get you a ton of strength and some muscle mass, but if your ultimate goal is muscle mass go for a little higher reps (8-12). If you're serious about gaining muscle mass, I would limit the running to maybe once a week. I do HIIT once every 2 or 3 weeks to keep a somewhat healthy heart.

I want to give two cents! I think guys are a good source of motivation in a gym. Think, if you were a girl, would you run that extra mile if you saw some guy you like trying his hardest to pack on that extra muscle? I think so! Also guys tend to do a little more research with working out and dieting (from my experience at least), so having some extra help on things couldn't hurt. Girls are mostly just intimidated by guys, even though when they go in the weight section, nothing happens to them from what I've seen (minus the few guys trying to start a conversation). Though I guess if girls want to stick to the typical stereotype of running and lifting light weights for a ton of reps then an all girl gym would be good. I could go on but I'll stop now...

Rock Climbing is a fun way to increase your grip! Though it's a bit scary, but nothing Mama T can't handle!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!! Hope it's a great one!!! Also congrats on your squat goal!

No I did not unfortunately, and I think this is my 3rd time posting this too, my posts keep going away or something!! I did wake up at 11:11 am (yeah I sleep in late) and made a wish though! As for my challenges right now I haven't really done much at all, school has been stressing me out, and I recently just got sick (probably from the stress/cold/lack of sleep) and so I haven't been to the gym in 2 days. I also haven't been reading and I stopped doing yoga. I am completely failing at these challenges, except my weight is somewhat increasing...

Ugh I so wanted this, though I chose Call of Duty MW 3 instead. I'm more into competitive games I guess. Maybe I'll buy it...one day. I love the Elder Scrolls.

Good job on the 5k, those are always fun! Keep up the good work and hopefully you level up on your deadlifts later today, have fun at work!

Hey guys, I got bored and put together a progress timeline of me. I probably should have used a different one for the last picture but I think it can be used as good inspiration for some people! [ATTACH=CONFIG]1054[/ATTACH] Again, for some reason I make the weirdest faces in pictures that involve me having my shirt off haha. This is really similar to my woot thread I made but I added a middle picture to help put things into better perspective.

Ha that would be awesome, I'll have to do something!! Oh and my friends and I are cat sitting right now, and it's awesome. I'm pretty happy right now, can't wait to lift!

My week has been pretty bad actually But not too bad. I failed my SLRPE (which has no effect on my grade luckily) so I can't continue taking Spanish classes anymore. I had a ton of Spanish tests and different things due this week which took up a ton of time and I had to skip out on my leg workout again because of it. I did however do my leg workout today, and did pretty well. I didn't go up in weight because I was worried about my form but I actually got complimented on how deep I go today! It made me proud, and I made a new friend in the gym too. I got up to 265 lbs for 5 reps on my deadlift though! (If only my squats could catch up!) Let's see..I keep doing yoga too except for one day, it's pretty relaxing and I can kind of tell some improvement on my flexibility. Reading hasn't been going well though. I have a really tough weekend coming up because I have a lot to do for Spanish and a big midterm that I have to do well on. However tomorrow (11/11/11) is my birthday! So I'm going to enjoy that, and then go back to studying!!

My week has been pretty bad actually But not too bad. I failed my SLRPE (which has no effect on my grade luckily) so I can't continue taking Spanish classes anymore. I had a ton of Spanish tests and different things due this week which took up a ton of time and I had to skip out on my leg workout again because of it. I did however do my leg workout today, and did pretty well. I didn't go up in weight because I was worried about my form but I actually got complimented on how deep I go today! It made me proud, and I made a new friend in the gym too. I got up to 265 lbs for 5 reps on my deadlift though! (If only my squats could catch up!) Let's see..I keep doing yoga too except for one day, it's pretty relaxing and I can kind of tell some improvement on my flexibility. Reading hasn't been going well though. I have a really tough weekend coming up because I have a lot to do for Spanish and a big midterm that I have to do well on. However tomorrow (11/11/11) is my birthday! So I'm going to enjoy that, and then go back to studying!!

I use both. One week I will use the barbell, and the next week I will use dumbbells. The feel of an incline bench press is just way better when you are using dumbbells.

Alright, so not much has really changed in my life, I've still been reading and doing yoga and lifting. I don't know what to really say... I think I can tell that my flexibility is getting a tiny bit better because of yoga which is good. Also, I have been inspired to want to be a WWE wrestler...that is if fitness modeling doesn't work out.

Alright, so not much has really changed in my life, I've still been reading and doing yoga and lifting. I don't know what to really say... I think I can tell that my flexibility is getting a tiny bit better because of yoga which is good. Also, I have been inspired to want to be a WWE wrestler...that is if fitness modeling doesn't work out.

Wait so if you make this tryout, are you basically a part of the WWE? This sounds really interesting, it would be pretty sweet to be a WWE wrestler!

Your school should have a gym you could use. But if you get a few pieces of equipment you could do a lot of things. Just eat a lot and lift heavy, that's how I went from being underweight to pretty muscular. I have a progress thread in the woot room part of the forum, it's under '1 year progress' However, I got my gains in a gym, which was a lot easier in my opinion.

I know but he should have kept some muscle weight on. He eats basically as much as I do, sometimes more, and somehow I surpassed him at the end of it. It must be his workout or something.

My roommate took and it while I decided not to. I believe he was on it for a little over a month, at first he gained a lot more weight than I did, and was around 6 lbs heavier than me (we were almost the same weight when he started, he might have been a pound or two heaver than me). He started lifting more than me (which he originally did, but just at a faster pace now) and he gained weight faster than me. (To be fair I am an inch taller than him ha) However, I had regular gains and regular weight gains, once he stopped everything kind of went down hill. He lost a lot of weight and now weighs a pound less than me, sometimes two (we have about the same bf % too) and some of my lifts have surpassed him. I think he was suppose to go down and weight a little and then work his way back up but he didn't and so now I'm doing a little better than him. He didn't really do much research or anything into though, he just took it, and his workout is probably not on par with mine, even though he refuses to do it. This was just a personal experience I wanted to share that might help out.

I take a multivitamin (men's one a day, not the best, but better than nothing) and Fish Oil.

Thanks for the advice Vanilla Bean! I'll have to check that out, I have been on the higher side of the 158 lbs on the scale which is good but I can tell today I haven't had enough calories for what time it is, I need to go eat something right now actually! I also need to add more veggies to my diet, I think the only kind I eat is a bag full of carrots a week. I have no clue about the protein... An update on my goal I just did yoga, and oh my goodness is it getting difficult. My favorite thing is the balance part though, it's pretty fun and challenging! (I accidentally did it today instead of seated stretches, but I liked it way better) Time to go do some cardio, and possibly work on those obliques...

Update! Okay so yesterday was leg day, which I had to skip last week because of soreness for some reason. I started out on squats and could only get up to 175 lbs for 8 reps. Squats have become insanely difficult for me ever since I started to go below parallel, it's basically as if I were completely restarting! The good news is all of my other lifts are going up, and I'm really sore today, so hopefully I can get back up to 185lbs for 8 reps next week! I've been keeping up with yoga also, and reading! I am also cracking down on school work. I think that's everything...

TERRIBLE! I did well on the listening part...I think...but really badly on the reading part, they threw in some pretty tough words! I can take it again though so that's good!