Jason

Appreciate the replies! Understood about static stretching being bad for you before workouts, Kinda meant to ask for tips for what to do for the warmup. Matilda hit that nail on the head with the video. And i don't specifically run a mile, just tends to be around a mile by the time i feel my heart rate is up enough for me to move on to other things. plus just got my vff's so trying to ease myself into being able to run with them as much as i could in my New Balances As far as the back muscles/ pullups, I can only do maybe one actual pullup, and haven't seemed to progress to more. I can do lateral pull downs all day pretty much, at about 75% of my body weight (working my way up to closer to my actual body weight, progressing well in that regard), but i "feel the burn" in my arms, not my shoulders/back. that's why i feel i'm not using the back muscles. And for the soreness, i'll try doing cardio on off days a little bit. no stranger at all to being sore after a workout, just not used to the squat soreness i guess. could just be i never really worked the thighs out more than running does.

Hi guys, have a couple of simple questions along with some sort of background to go with it. first off me: 5'7'', 206 lbs (down from 220 about 6 months ago, mostly attributing that to the change from typical average geek diet of fast food to about 66% primal) problem number 1: Pull ups. I can't seem to use my back while trying to do them. I somehow always seem to just use my arms no matter how much i try to focus on using the back. Any tips for how to break bad habits formed over years of pitiful bad form? problem number 2: Warmup stretching. I used to just do a couple of minor arm/leg/calf stretches and do a short slow jog (about a mile, usually a little bit less, whatever i can do in about 10 minutes) as a warmup. I'm looking for tips on how to better stretch before a big lifting day as i used to just run instead of lifting but after reading through blog posts here and realizing the running alone was not working to get the weight off decided to finally cut the crap and move to free weights for the main portions of my workout. problem number 3: Kind of coincides with problem number 2 as i have a feeling the answer may be better stretching before the workout. I've only recently started doing squats. How do I get over the ridiculous amount of soreness in my thighs? i'm not squatting much more than just the bar, so don't think its a case of overworking myself, but i could be wrong and need to back down to body weight squats. Its pretty bad, the day (or in some cases two or three days) after I do 3 sets of 10 squats I have extreme soreness, especially when going up or down staircases (have to walk upstairs at work to get to one of the departments I deal with on a daily basis). The first time i did them i literally almost fell down the stairs from the muscle soreness. any advice would be appreciated.

Personally, I listen to Drum and Bass for running almost exlusively. Have a few hour long mix sets from the internet that i cycle through so i don't run to the exact same mix every time. 170-180 bpm is supposedly the best tempo to run to according to several different sources including runners world. mixes include tracks from lots of different artists, but for someone not into dnb to begin with i'd reccomend starting off with stuff from Pendulum. good group to ease your way over from typical rock/pop into the electronic scene. For lifting, just about anything hard/heavy/aggressive. have a huge assortment of metal, alternative, rap, dubstep, and various other stuff on my droid's sd card, and just put it on random. if a song doesn't "work" for the workout, skip to the next and keep on lifting.

update: goal 1 - Have been about 60/30 with the paleo diet, usually 2/3 of my meals are full paleo, and the other third are usually pretty close, with the exception of having either tortillas or potatos. can't turn down mother in-law's cooking haha. goal 2 - still struggling. have had limited gym time, but been doing bent over dumbell rows/ pushups/bodyweight squats in the meanwhile. have to figure out a door to mount my pullup bar in, seems most of the doors in the new apartment are too small to put it in. goal 3 - ughh... i've cut out the smoking while driving, planning to not smoke during lunch break by the end of this week, and by the end of next week, no smoke breaks at work at all. bonus goal - no time to finish it yet. have decided for the most part what the tune will be, most likely a remix of an old school video game theme (not gonna give it away just yet, gonna post a link to youtube of it once i finish it up). Current stats: 208 pounds, down 7 pounds total from when i first started paleo, feel full of energy now as compared to the first couple of weeks. waist size still pretty close to the same, had to tighten the belts down one extra notch (kinda created a problem since one of the belts i used normally didn't have another hole to tighten down to haha, gonna take a hot nail to it to create a new hole in the meanwhile)

Not a good weekend diet wise, spent most of the time from thursday through sunday afternoon in the hospital (wife started having contractions, way too early! she is at home on bed rest now, with her mother helping out while i'm at work.) and running out at meal time to grab something quick to eat. got a couple good meals in, but just looking back now and slapping my self on the wrist and doing the best i can to stick to it going forward. got in one good workout on friday, and going after work tonight to get back on track yet again. starting weight: 215ish (a week before the challenge started) current weight: 210ish

First couple of days have been focused on the diet and the smoking, cut out the smoking on the way to and from work today, and by the end of the week, cutting out the smoking on the lunch break. As far as diet, need to cut down on the coffee, but other than that, have been sticking to it just fine. bonus goal: warrior dash east texas in march was just announced, going to sign up for it soon and start training.

Hi guys, first challenge for me, may have to rearrange some goals later, due to the wifey getting ready to give birth, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there. Goals: Diet/Fitness: 1) Maintain the Paleo diet (been at it for over a week now, only slipped up a couple times due to the fact I just moved in a new apartment and had to eat out to pay for the help from a couple friends) and push it to more than just breakfast and lunch 2) 5 Pull ups. I struggle with one unassisted as is, think i'm using my arms more than my back and need to fix that. 3) Quit Smoking completely. Life: Finish up at least one full song. I create Electronic music in my spare time... however I typically create just a drumline, bassline, or melody, and never really piece stuff together. would be simple to just throw them all together, but musically would sound terrible as each piece really doesn't go with each other piece.

Thanks for all the warm welcomes. As far as warcrack goes, I was on Ner'zhul Horde side back in vanilla through the end of tbc, when my guild (aussies cause i was on night shift back then) all transferred to an Oceanic server. Have been winding down since then and mostly have played lower level chars through wrath and cataclysm, just casually enjoying the leveling experience. was a fun waste of time, but in the end it was just that, a waste of time. I've got a gym membership at 24hr fitness, have been working out there since about the last half of summer when it got too hot to just run outdoors. trained for Beach Palooza until September, ran it, didn't do amazing, but finished it, which is awesome after years of not working out. Thinking of signing up for warrior dash in March, just found out the new location this weekend.

Hello everyone, the name is jason and I've been lurking around a few months now. Just started a mostly paleo diet this past week and so far its great. So here is the backstory: I've been struggling with weight for years, since I got out of the airforce some 7 years ago and quit exercising on a regular basis until a little over a year ago. Now my wife is just about a month away from having our first child. The fact of having a kid has been the kickstart I've desperately needed to get my life back on the leveling track. I don't want to be the guy who has to sit back and watch my son play, I want to be able to keep up when he runs, pick him up when he falls, and all around be a better role model. I would love to get in on this coming up 6 week challenge, only reservation I have being that somewhere between half way through and the end, my son will be born and my life will be over 9000(!!!!) times busier. Regardless, going to power through best I can. I'm a mostly recovered warcrack addict, only play maybe two or three times a week. I dabble in electronic music production, play guitar on occasion, and have over the past year been training with the goal of learning parkour and having fun along the way. And now for the bad... I'm addicted to cigarettes. Have been for years. Have tried quitting countless times and always fell flat on my face. New life coming into the world has finally (hopefully) given me enough motivation to really want to quit and am on the path to recovery.