aj_rock

I'd like to repeat 80's big's suggestion and say rugby shorts for going over whatever you have underneath. Shorter than most shorts, yet not unmanly. Due to the monstrous size of some the lads who wear them, they have sizes that accommodate both larger thighs and waists. http://www.barbarian.com/index.cfm?app=catalogue&a=cat&categoryID=125

Relevant to the male sex drive thing, girls can have periodic problems when hormone levels start to crash due to under-eating. You are going on five weeks of dieting too. Six weeks is the recommended amount before you refeed at maintenance for a week or two anyways. Seems like you're on schedule really. The fact that it's not a 'hard' cut also means that you're likely dealing with leptin issues, which hands down calls for a lengthy refeed.

Alright, this was a very easy weekend, all saying. Saturday went for a run around, but with low numbers we kept it pretty easy going. Last night, we had a little touch tourny. Yah right little, I was playing for a good 3.5 hours all told. 6 round robin games, first 3 15 min each and then 10 for the last four. Made it to the 'semi-final' round, with a total record of 4-2-1 w/t/l. Yours truly did... good in some areas, excellent in others, terrible in some. Offload accuracy and communication need some work on offense, although defense was stellar and we could direct our numbers as needed. Broke the line about 8 times and all were good for tries, but only 3 were mine, as scrummy wasn't allowed to score and had to ditch the ball to a teammate upon reaching the try area. But most were pretty clutch, and considering that our team scored only a total of 12 tries, it means I had a major impact on 2/3 of them Sore as all hell now, so squatting at the gym tonight is dubious.

I love me some sprints too, but another really good functional measure for legs is agility, so like t-drill, cornering, etc. Very few people seem to think about that stuff outside of sport, but the man (or woman... or whoever) that can reach top speed, take a 90 deg turn and make somebody standing in your way look a damn fool, is a man (or whatever) worth their salt in leg strength.

I've always thoerized that this happens. You'll definitely see backslide on too deep or too long a cut, but I've seen it happen to myself a few times where cut cut cut then as soon as you increase calories the pounds just fly onto the lifts.

"Oi! Moppets! Help your dear ole da before he's squashed like one of our outrageously sized insects!"

Yup, the better you can quantify your results, the better you can measure them. I'd suggest for the running route, to time yourself, and just try to shave some time off it every time you go! What I'd call a 'run' pace would be about 5 miles/hr, so your goal would be 30 minutes or less. Probably sounds daunting, but it's totally doable over a six week challenge. I like that you want to increase water intake, but it's not as simple as drinking a gallon a day, which may be overboard on the whole. You probably only NEED to drink about half of that, with another couple of cups while you exercise. Keep that in mind.

If you're looking to add some leg muscle, well, *insert chorus of SQUATS here* What you're really asking is whether you can perform resistance training for your legs AND run. To which I say yes. Lots of anecdotal evidence around showing athletes that are both strong and can run just fine. Hell, I run up to three times a week and still get in resistance training with no ill effects. Start by slowly adding in exercises. If you run more than three times a week, you may need to cut down to three while resistance training, but that's just to avoid overtraining in general. But do one workout first week, two the second, and stay there until you feel comfortable adding a third one. Before you know it, your legs will be capable of propelling you forwards AND upwards!

A weekly cake meeting? That's just obsequious. Unfortunately, that's not something you can change. I'd say something about trying to make it fit, but that doesn't seem to be an option for you. Maybe an anecdote: I'm a student, and as a result I find myself cavorting about on weekends regardless of my current diet. Honestly? As long as you aren't stuffing your face, relaxing a bit on the weekends will help you feel better, in the long run. Taking two days off a week will not reverse your progress. If you feel extra flabby, it's just water retention and will go away pretty quickly once you get back on track.

Losing 14 lbs will cause about a 5-7% reduction in calories used (5% for BMR, 7% for exercise), so you're on the right track. A general rule for plateaus is to reduce your food intake by 10%. Or increase exercise. Or both. But the idea is that about 10% of normal is what to do. If you don't count calories, then just try to eyeball eating 10% less at every meal.

Caffeine's a funny drug. Half life is around 5 hours, so it sticks around in your body long enough to accumulate if you drink it over the course of a day, and is still present in your body upon waking up. That's actually kinda why you fiend it so much in the morning. The body's total caffeine supply has hit actual zero and things aren't firing like they used to. What I'D suggest is gradually cut back on your serving sizes, but still have the same number of doses, before trying to cut your tea time total. So like, reduce potency, throw away half the cup, whatever. Just try to decrease the amount you have over the course of a day evenly.

Tiger got a boo-boo Got about 40 minutes into the circuits when I had the oddest pain/tightness between my right thigh and butt cheek. I had to stop. Slowly, over the next ten minutes, it got worse, and the tightness is only now receding (~40 minutes later) I'm gonna have to take tomorrow and Friday off in order to make sure I'm rested for OB on Saturday. Not a happy camper am I, but it's better than snapping my hammy I guess.

Yissssss the cutttttt join the cuttttttttttt

... So you're getting PAID to attend CONVENTIONS. I sit in a lab and watch a machine tug at a string of guck. ... I chose the wrong profession V.V

Made it to the gym today against all odds. End of semester is really hittin hard right now DL: 150 X 4, 170 X 2, 174 X 1, 174 X fail, 170 X fail, 160 X 1 (gah. Just couldn't...) HS BP: 288 X 3. 268 X 5 Inc DB BP: 70 X 8, 6 Pull ups: 14, 12, 10 So some lifts are obviously falling off now. Gotten back down to around 181, and I'm literally || this close to the six pack. Top four are very visible, and striations are visible across shoulders and chest. Can't wait to show you guys the update at the end of the semester. Will try to circuit tomorrow and squats on thursday at least.

That's hilarious and probably a bajillion times more interesting than my thesis. Kinda wondering now how you go aboot studying cosplay though.

All in favor of Waldo being NF's version of Chuck Norris say Aye. AYE.

Su-weeeeet. Never did get to hear what YOUR thesis is about

Exposition time! ... Part of the reason I've always loved working out by my lonesome is the application of music to exercise. Many a time have I been on a long run, long circuit, long set, and waddya know? The right song comes on, the right beat comes through, and somehow you can channel the energy back into your workout. Sometimes, I wonder if I could channel that energy without having the music playing. Indeed, I am one of those who tends to have a tune in their head at almost any given time. Could this be used to enervate an adrenaline rush anytime I chose? Would be nice. My randomized song selection was being fickle today, at any rate. Not many people can push themselves effectively in a workout to Journey. I switch songs rapidly, looking for a new song. Unfortunately, as I flip through the songs, I notice that I had three minutes to make my circuit under time. I try not to notice, because it is always an invariably smite of dismay upon realizing that the time will not broken. Not today, at least. No, instead I find myself staring at an old favorite of mine: Away, by Breaking Benjamin. Ye olde rock song about conflicted love. Not great for getting the keister in movement, but I then and there swore to myself to finish the circuit by the time the song ended. I push through the next few sets at a dizzying pace. I begin to count my total reps, not the numbers for just this set: 98, 99, 100 pushups, 60 dips, 120 step-ups, 3.5 miles... The final set comes up. Another 15 chin-ups and a mad dash to the start point to finish. I pause, take two breaths, and start in as the final refrain kicks in. My lats burn, my fingers ache, and I'm sure my huffing and puffing was audible to most there, as more than one glance of either admiration or fear came up to me. The last few strains of sound are emanating as I finish the final rep. I am more than tired, but somehow I find the energy to sprint the last 50 meters back to the start. The final kicks in, I pause my cellphone's timer, and, completely winded, I sit for a few seconds, partially dazed. At this point, I almost don't care what music comes on. Then I hear a familiar thrum, as Such Great Heights by the Postal Service comes in: "They will see us waving from such great Heights, 'come down now,' they'll say But everything looks perfect from far away, 'come down now,' but we'll stay..." I look around myself as others continue on their own fitness journeys, probably more than one of them wondering who this crazy guy is that comes in and punishes himself almost every day. Serenity takes over as I think to myself, that yes, they will see me waving, from such a great height, and the journey there was so great; I'm in no rush to come down... Final time on this run was 50:57.

Neutral spine is healthy spine. I've never seen anything in any literature that says otherwise. I'll admit, your upper back will round... when you're lifting 95% + on a deadlift, or similar. But that's just what happens naturally when you lift teh heavy things. Maybe my back cries more than your av-ver-rage bear because I have mild scoliosis, but I'm curious to hear why you think purposeful rounding is a good idea.

Spez, the way you pick the bar up from the floor makes my back cry. Please don't round it anymore

If that's when catspaw-like women visit the gym, sounds like a plan.

Light workout because Ottawa was out of the options: DB BP: 2 X 12 X 65 Pull-ups: 2 X 10 Dips: 2 X 10 Rows: 2 X 14 X 198 Bent arm lat raise: 2 X 12 X 80

As best I can tell, you have lost maybe a pound of fat in that time. I hope you've made good progress on your lifts, because that's almost negligible over 7 weeks. Sorry man.

OB's in Ottawa today, and I kinda don't have a car. Easter weekend they'll have a practice in my reach. As such, I'll be nursing a hangover today please and thankyou